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OTHERS  IN  PREPARATION. 


D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY,  NEW  YORE 


UNIVERSITY 

OF 


RAW  COTTON  IN  THE  BOLLS. 


THE  STORY  OF  THE 
COTTON  PLANT 

-p  &  v\  o  v 


BY 

F.   WILKINSON,   F.  G.  S. 

DIRECTOR  OF  THE  TEXTILE  AND  ENGINEERING  SCHOOL,   BOLTON 
AND  CO-AUTHOR  OF  ELEMENTS  OF  COTTON  SPINNING 


WI TH   THIR TY-EIGH T  ILLUS TRA  TIONS 


NEW    YORK 

D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY 
1902 


W  to 


GENERAQ 


COPYRIGHT,  1898, 
BY  D.   APPLETON  AND  COMPANY. 


PREFACE. 


IN  collecting  the  facts  which  will  be  found  in 
this  Story  of  the  Cotton  plant,  the  author  has  of 
necessity  had  to  consult  many  books.  He  is 
especially  indebted  to  Baines'  "  History  of  the 
Cotton  Manufacture,"  French's  "  Life  and  Times 
of  Samuel  Crompton,"  Lee's  "  Vegetable  Lamb 
of  Tartary,"  Report  of  the  U.  S.  A.  Agricultural 
Department  on  "The  Cotton  Plant,"  and  The 
American  Cotton  Company's  Booklet  on  the 
Cylindrical  Bale. 

Mr.  Thornley,  spinning  master  at  the  Techni- 
cal School,  Bolton,  has  from  time  to  time  offered 
very  important  suggestions  during  the  progress 
of  this  little  work.  The  author  is  also  deeply 
indebted  to  the  late  Mr.  Woods  of  the  Technical 
School,  Bolton,  who  was  good  enough  to  photo- 
graph most  of  the  pictures  which  illustrate  this 
book,  and  without  which  it  would  have  been  im- 
possible to  make  the  story  clear. 

For  permission  to  reproduce  Fig.  3,  the  thanks 
of  the  author  are  due  to  Messrs.  Sampson  Low 
and  Co.,  for  Fig.  4,  to  Messrs.  Longmans,  Green 


6      THE  STORY  OF  THE  COTTON  PLANT. 

and  Co.  For  Figs.  5,  8,  9,  13,  and  36,  to  Messrs. 
Dobson  and  Barlow,  Ltd.,  Bolton.  For  Fig.  7, 
viz.,  the  Longitudinal  and  Transverse  Micropho- 
tographs  of  Cotton  Fibre,  the  author  4s  much  in- 
debted to  Mr.  Christie  of  Mark  Lane,  London, 
who  generously  photographed  them  especially 
for  this  work.  For  Fig.  23,  I  am  obliged  to  Mr. 
A.  Perry,  Bolton. 

FRED.  WILKINSON. 

TEXTILE  AND  ENGINEERING  SCHOOL, 
BOLTON. 


CONTENTS. 


lAPTER  PAGE 

I.  ORIGIN,  GROWTH,  AND   DESCRIPTIONS  OF  THE 

CHIEF  CULTIVATED  SPECIES     ....        9 
II.  COTTON   PLANTS,  PESTS,   AND   OTHER    INJURI- 
OUS AGENTS 34 

III.  CULTIVATION  OF  COTTON  IN  DIFFERENT  COUN- 

TRIES  39 

IV.  THE  MICROSCOPE  AND  COTTON  FIBRE      .        .      64 
V.  PLANTATION  LIFE,  AND  THE  EARLY  CLEANING 

PROCESSES,  INCLUDING  PICKING,  GINNING,  AND 

BALING 72 

VI.  MANIPULATION  OF  COTTON  IN  OPENING,  SCUTCH- 
ING, CARDING,  DRAWING,  AND  FLY  FRAMES  .      82 
VII.  EARLY    ATTEMPTS   AT    SPINNING,    AND    EARLY 

INVENTORS 112 

VIII.  FURTHER  DEVELOPMENTS  BY  ARKWRIGHT  AND 

CROMPTON 126 

IX.  THE  MODERN  SPINNING  MULE  .        .        .        .146 

X.  OTHER  PROCESSES  IN  THE  SPINNING  OF  COTTON     160 

XI.  DESTINATION  OF  THE  SPUN  YARN     .        .        .176 

7 


LIST    OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


FIGURE  PAGI 

1.  Raw  Cotton  in  the  Bolls    ....         Frontispiece 

2.  Bobbins  of  Cotton  Thread          .....       ic 

3.  The  Vegetable  Lamb  of  Tartary        .         .         .         .13 

4.  Gossypium  Barbadense       .         .         .         .       "  .  ~      .       24 

5.  An  Indian  Cotton  field       .         .         .         .         .         -53 

6.  Microscope  in  position  for  drawing  objects         .         .       65 

7.  Transverse  and  Longitudinal  Sections  of  Cotton  Fibre       67 

8.  Indian  women  with  Roller  gin  .....       75 

9.  Self-acting  Macarthy  Cotton  gin.        ....       78 

10.  Bales  from  various  Cotton-growing  countries     .         .  80 

11.  Cylindrical  Rolls  of  Cotton         .....  81 

12.  Bale  Breaker  or  Puller 87 

13.  Double  opener  with  Hopper  Feed      .         .         .         .89 

14.  Scutching  Machine  with  lap  at  the  back    ...  92 

15.  Two  views  of  the  Carding  Engine  95 

16.  Lap,  Web,  and  Sliver  of  Cotton          ....  99 

17.  Drawing  Frame,  showing  eight  slivers  entering,  and 

one  leaving  the  machine          .....  103 

18.  Intermediate  Frame  (Bobbin  and  Fly  Frame)    .         .  108 

19.  Twist  put  in  Cotton  by  the  hand        ....  115 

20.  Jersey  spinning  wheel         .         .         .         .         .         •  117 

21.  Hargreaves'  Spinning  Jenny      .         .         .         .         .124 

22.  Arkwright's  Machine          .         .         .         .         .         .130 

23.  "  The  Hall  ith  Wood " 136 

24.  Crompton's  Spinning  Mule         .         .         .         .         .  141 

25.  Portrait  of  Samuel  Crompton     .....  145 

26.  Mule  Head  showing  Quadrant  .....  148 

27.  Mules  showing  "  Stretch  "  of  Cotton  yarn           .         .  150 

28.  Mule  showing  action  of  Faller  Wires          .         .         .154 

29.  Mule  Head  showing  Copping  Rail     .         .         .         .  159 

30.  Ring  Spinning  Frame         .         .         .         .         .         .  161 

31.  Combing  Machine      .......  170 

32.  Sliver  Lap  Machine   . 173 

33.  Ribbon  Lap  Machine         .         .         .         .         .  175 

34.  Reeling  Machine        .         .         .         .         .         .         .  179 

35.  Bundling  Machine 180 

36.  Quick  Traverse  Winding  Frame        ....  182 

37.  Ring  Doubling  Machine    ......  184 

38.  Engine  House,  showing  driving  to  various  storeys     .  186 


THE    STORY 
OF   THE   COTTON    PLANT. 


CHAPTER   I. 

ORIGIN,  GROWTH,  AND  CHIEF  CULTIVATED  SPECIES 
OF    COTTON    PLANT. 

IN  the  frontispiece  of  this  little  work  is  a  pic- 
ture of  a  part  of  a  Cotton  plant  bearing  mature 
pods  which  contain  ripe  fibre  and  seed,  and  in 
Fig.  2  stands  a  number  of  bobbins  or  reels  of  cot- 
ton thread,  in  which  there  is  one  having  no  less 
than  seventeen  hundred  and  sixty  yards  of  sewing 
cotton,  or  one  English  mile  of  thread,  on  it.  As 
both  pictures  are  compared  there  appears  to  be 
very  little  in  common  between  them,  the  white 
fluffy  feathery  masses  contained  in  the  pods 
shown  in  the  one  picture,  standing  in  strange 
contrast  to  the  strong,  beautifully  regular  and 
even  threads  wound  on  the  bobbins  pictured  in 
the  other. 

From  cotton  tree  to  cotton  thread  is  undoubt- 
edly a  far  cry,  but  it  will  be  seen  further  on  that 
the  connection  between  the  two  is  a  very  real 
and  vital  one. 

Now  it  is  the  main  purpose  of  this  book  to  un- 
fold the  wonderful  story  of  the  plant,  and  to  fill 
in  the  details  of  the  gap  from  tree  to  thread,  and 
to  trace  the  many  changes  through  which  the 

9 


10  THE   STORY   OF  THE 

beautiful  downy  cotton  wool  passes  before  it  ar- 
rives in  the  prim  looking  state  of  thread  ready 
alike  for  the  sewing  machine  or  the  needle  of 
seamstress. 

Remembering  that  the  great  majority  of  the 
readers  of  the  "  Useful  Stories  "  must  of  necessity 


FIG.  2. — Bobbins  of  cotton  thread. 


be  quite  unaccustomed  to  trade  terms  and  techni- 
cal expressions,  the  author  has  endeavoured  to 
present  to  his  readers  in  untechnical  language  a 
simple  yet  truthful  account  of  the  many  opera- 
tions and  conditions  through  which  cotton  is 
made  to  pass  before  reaching  the  final  stages. 

Nature  provides  no  lovelier  sight  than  the 
newly  opened  capsules  containing  the  pure  white 
and  creamy  flocculent  masses  of  the  cotton  fibre 
as  they  hang  from  almost  every  branch  of  the 
tree  at  the  end  of  a  favourable  season. 

And  how  strange  is  the  story  of  this  plant  as 
we  look  back  through  the  centuries  and  listen  to 
the  myths  and  fables,  almost  legion,  which  early 
historians  have  handed  down  to  us  or  imagina- 
tive travellers  have  conceived.  There  is,  how- 


COTTON   PLANT.  II 

,  every  reason  to  believe  that  in  the  far  dis- 
ages  of  antiquity  this  plant  was  cultivated, 
yielded  then,  as  it  does  now,  a  fibre  from 
?.h  the  inhabitants  of  those  far-off  times  pro- 
id  material  with  which  to  clothe  their  bodies, 
.t  will  not  be  considered  out  of  place  if  some 
he  early  beliefs  which  obtained  among  the 
Dies  of  Western  Asia  and  Europe  for  many 
;s  are  related. 

Like  many  other  things  the  origin  of  the  Cot- 
plant  is  shrouded  in  mystery,  and  many  writ- 
ers are  agreed  that  it  originally  came  from  the 
t,  but  it  will  be  seen  later  on  that  equally 
>ng  claims  can  be  presented  from  other  coun- 
s  in  the  Western  Hemisphere.  Many  of  us 
e  been  amused  at  the  curious  ideas  which  peo- 
,  say  of  a  hundred  years  ago,  had  of  the  Coral 
ype. 
Even  to-day  children  may  be  heard  singing  in 

school, 

"  Far  adown  the  silent  ocean 
Dwells  the  coral  insect  small "  ! 

Not  a  few  of  the  early   naturalists   believed 
at  the  Coral  was  a  plant  and  while  living  in  the 
a  water  it  was  soft,  and  when  dead  it  became 
nard! 

We  smile  at  this,  of  course,  but  it  was  not  un- 
•  actual  investigation  on  the  spot,  as  to  what  the 
v  oral  was,  that  the  truth  came  out. 

It  was  then  discovered  to  be  an  animal  and 
ot  a  plant,  and  that  during  life  its  hard  limy 
teleton  was  covered  by  soft  muscular  tissue, 
rhich,  when  decomposing,  was  readily  washed 
way  by  the  sea,  leaving  the  hard  interior  ex- 
>osed  as  coral. 

When  the  absurd  beliefs  are  read  which  found 


12  THE.  STORY  OF  THE 

credence  among  all  classes  of  the  people  during 
the  middle  ages,  and  down  even  to  the  end  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  as  to  what  the  cotton  boll  or 
pod  was,  the  reader  is  inclined  to  rub  his  eyes 
and  think  surely  he  must  be  reading  "  Baron 
Munchausen  "  over  again,  for  a  nearer  approach 
to  the  wonderful  statements  of  that  former-^, 
fabled  traveller  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  than; 
the  simple  crude  conceptions  which  prevailed  oi 
the  growth,  habits,  and  physical  characteristics  of 
the  Cotton  plant. 

The  subject  of  the  early  myths  and  fables  of 
the  plant  in  question  has  been  very  fully  treated 
by  the  late  Mr.  Henry  Lee,  F.  L.  S.,  who  was  for 
a  time  at  the  Brighton  Aquarium.  His  book,  the 
"Vegetable  Lamb  of  Tartary,"  shows  indefatiga- 
ble research  for  a  correct  explanation  of  the' 
myth,  and  after  a  strictly  impartial  inquiry  he ; 
comes  to  the  conclusion  that  all  the  various 
phases  which  these  fabulous  concoctions  assumed, 
had  their  beginnings  in  nothing  more  or  less  than 
the  simple  mature  pod  of  the  Cotton  plant. 

It  will  not  be  necessary  to  consider  here  more 
than  one  or  two  of  these  very  curious  beliefs 
about  cotton.  By  some  it  was  supposed  that  in 
a  country  which  went  by  the  name  "  The  Tartars 
of  the  East,"  there  grew  a  wonderful  tree  which 
yielded  buds  still  more  wonderful.  These,  when 
ripe,  were  said  to  burst  and  expose  to  view  tiny 
lambs  whose  fleeces  gave  a  pure  white  wool  which 
the  natives  made  into  different  garments. 

By  and  by,  a  delightfully  curious  change  took 
place,  and  it  is  found  that  the  fruit  which  was 
formerly  said  to  have  the  little  lamb  within,  was 
now  changed  into  a  live  lamb  attache^  ^  the  top 
of  the  plant.  Mr.  Lee  says  :  "  The  stem  or  stalk 


COTTON    PLANT. 


on  which  the  lamb  was  suspended  above  the 
ground,  was  sufficiently  flexible  to  allow  the  ani- 
mal to  bend  downward,  and  browse  on  the  herb- 
age within  its  reach.  When  all  the  grass  within 
the  length  of  its  tether  had  been  consumed,  the 
stem  withered  and  the  plant  died.  This  plant 
lamb  was  reported  to  have  bones,  blood,  and  deli- 
cate flesh,  and  to  be  a  favourite  food  of  wolves, 

hough     no     other 

arnivorous    animal       CrLmta,  Tdrtsmca 
would    attack  it." 

In  Fig.  3  is  shown 
Joannes  Zahn'sidea 
of  what  this  won- 
derful "  Barometz 
or  Tartarian  lamb  " 

•as     like.         Now, 

>ainly   through    an 

naginative  Eng- 
lishman named  Sir 
John  Mandeville, 
who  lived  in  the- 
reign  of  Edward 
III.,  did  this  latter 
form  of  the  story 
find  its  way  into 
England. 

This  illustrious 
traveller  left  his 


FIG.  3.— The  vegetable  lamb  of 
Tartary. 


native  country  in  1322,  and  for  over  thirty  years 

/ersed  the  principal  countries  of   Europe  and 

i.      When   he  came  home   he   commenced    to 

write  a  history   of    his    remarkable   travels.      In 

frse   are  found   references  to  the  Cotton  plant, 

•1  so  curious  an  account  does  he  give  of  it,  that 

•las  been  Considered  worth  reproduction  in  his 


14  THE   STORY   OF   THE 

own  words  :  "  And  there  growethe  a  maner  of 
Fruyt,  as  though  it  weren  Gourdes :  and  whan 
ther  been  rype  men  kutten  hem  ato,  and  men 
fynden  with  inne  a  lyttle  Best,  in  Flesche,  in  Bon 
and  Blode,  as  though  it  were  a  lytylle  Lomb  with 
outen  Wolle.  And  men  eten  both  the  Frut  and 
the  Best ;  and  that  is  a  great  Marveylle.  Of  that 
Frute  I  have  eaten  ;  alle  thoughe  it  were  wondir- 
fulle,  but  that  I  knowe  well  that  God  is  Marvey- 
llous  in  his  Werkes." 

No  wonder  that  many  accepted  his  account  of 
the  "  Vegetable  Lamb  "  without  question.  When 
a  nobleman  of  the  reputation  of  Sir  J.  Mandeville 
stated  that  he  had  actually  eaten  of  the  fruit  ^f 
the  Cotton,  was  there  any  need  for  further  doub1 

It   appears,  however,  that   contemporary  wi 
Mandeville    was    another    traveller,    an    Italic 
Friar,  named  Odoricus,  who  also  had  trav: 
Asia  and  heard  of  the  plant  which  yielded  cotto 
He,  too,  fell  a  prey  to  the  lamb  theory.     Mar  • 
other  writers  and  travellers  followed,  all  more  < 
less  believing  in  the  plant  animal  theory.     How- 
ever, in  1641,  Kircher   of   Avignon  in  describing 
cotton    declared  it   to  be  a   plant.     Antl  so  the 
story  for  years    passed    through    many  changes. 
First  one  would  assert  what  he  considered  to  be 
the  right  solution,  and  this  was  immediately  chal- 
lenged by  the  next  investigator,  so  that  assertion 
and  contradiction   followed   each  other  in  quick 
succession. 

In  1725,  however,  a  German  doctor  named 
Breyn  communicated  with  the  Royal  Society  on 
the  subject  of  the  "Vegetable  lamb,"  e  hatic- 
ally  stating  the  story  to  be  nothing  mor  i^ss 

than  a  fable.  He  very  naively  remarked  that 
"  the  wprk  and  productions  of  nature  should  be 


COTTON    PLANT.  15 

discovered,  not  invented,"  and  he  threw  doubts 
as  to  whether  those  who  had  written  about  the 
mythical  lamb  had  ever  seen  one. 

When  the  writings  and  dissertations  of  Man- 
deville,  Odoricus  and  others  are  carefully  consid- 
ered, these  conclusions  force  themselves  upon  us: 
that  direct  personal  observation  must  have  played 
a  very  minor  part  in  the  attempt  to  get  at  the 
truth  in  connection  with  the  origin  and  growth 
of  the  Cotton  plant. 

Their  statements  stand  in  very  sharp  contrast 
with  those  of  writers  who  lived  before  the  Chris- 
tian era  commenced.  Of  these,  mention  must  be 
made  of  Herodotus,  surnamed  the  Father  of  His- 
tory. 

This  celebrated  Greek  historian  and  philoso- 
pher was  born,  B.  c.  484,  in  Halicarnassus  in 
Greece.  In  his  book  of  travels  he  speaks  of  the 
Cotfbn  plant.  It  appears,  mainly  owing  to  the 
tyrannical  government  of  Lygdamis,  he  left  his 
native  land  and  travelled  in  many  countries  in 
Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa.  He  appears  t^  have  at 
least  determined,  that  he  would  only  write  of 
those  things  of  which  he  had  intimate  knowledge, 
and  would  under  no  circumstances  take  for 
granted  what  he  could  not  by  personal  observa- 
tion verify  for  himself.  In  speaking  of  India  and 
the  Cotton  plant,  he  says:  "  The  wild  trees  in 
that  country  bear  for  their  fruit  fleeces  surpassing 
those  of  sheep  in  beauty  and  excellence,  and  the 
natives  clothe  themselves  in  cloths  made  there- 
from." In  another  place  he  refers  to  a  present 
which  was  sent  by  one  of  the  kings  of  Egypt, 
which  was  padded  with  cotton.  He  also  describes 
a  machine  for  separating  the  seed  from  the  fibre 
or  lint.  Compared  with  our  modern  gins,  as  they 


1 6  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

are  called,  this  machine  was  exceedingly  primi- 
tive and  simple  in  construction. 

There  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  the  first 
reliable  information  of  the  physical  characters  of 
the  fibre  and  its  uses  was  conveyed  into  Europe 
by  the  officers  of  the  Emperor  Alexander.  One 
of  his  greatest  Admirals,  named  Nearchus,  ob- 
served the  growth  of  cotton  in  India,  and  the  use 
to  which  it  was  put,  especially  the  making  of 
sheets,  shirts  and  turbans. 

Perhaps  one  of  the  most  careful  observers 
that  lived  before  the  Christian  era  commenced, 
was  Theophrastus,  who  wrote  some  strikingly 
correct  things  about  the  Cotton  plant  of  India 
three  centuries  before  Christ ! 

In  describing  the  tree  he  said'  it  was  useful 
in  producing  cotton  which  the  Indians  wove 
into  garments,  that  it  was  not  unlike  the  dog 
rose,  and  that  the  leaves  were  somewhat  like 
the  leaves  of  the  mulberry  tree.  The  cultiva- 
tion of  the  plant  was  also  very  correctly  noted 
as  to  the  rows  in  which  the  cotton  seeds  were 
placed,  and  as  to  the  distances  to  which  these 
rows  were  set.  According  to  Dr.  Royle,  how- 
ever, reference  is  made  to  cotton  in  the  "  Sacred 
Institutes  of  Manu "  so  frequently  that  the 
conclusion  is  admitted  that  cotton  must  have 
been  in  frequent  use  in  India  at  that  time,  which 
was  800  B.C. 

As  was  to  be  expected,  Persia  very  early  had 
cottons  and  calicoes  imported  from  India.  In 
the  sixth  verse  of  the  first  chapter  of  Esther 
definite  reference  is  made  to  the  use  to  which  cot- 
ton was  put  at  the  feasts  which  King  Ahasuerus 
gave  about  519  B.C.  "White,  green,  and  blue 
hangings "  are  said  to  have  been  used  on  this 


COTTON    PLANT.  17 

occasion,  and  from  authorities  who  have  special- 
ly investigated  this  subject,  we  are  told  that  the 
hangings  mentioned  were  simply  white  and  blue 
striped  cottons.  This  would  also  confirm  the 
statement  that  dyeing  is  one  of  the  oldest  indus- 
tries we  have. 

It  appears  that  the  Greeks  and  Romans  in 
good  time  learned  to  value  goods  made  of  cotton, 
and  soon  followed  the  Oriental  custom  of  erecting 
awnings  or  coverings  for  protection  from  the  sun's 
rays.  The  Emperor  Caesar  is  said  to  have  con- 
structed a  huge  screen  extending  from  his  own 
residence  along  the  Sacred  Way  to  the  top  of  the 
Capitoline  Hill.  The  whole  of  the  Roman  Forum 
was  also  covered  in  by  him  in  a  similar  way.  Cov- 
erings for  tents,  sail  cloth  made  from  cotton,  and 
fancy  coverlets  were  also  in  use  among  the  inhabit- 
ants of  these  stirring  times. 

And  now  comes  the  important  question  :  Was 
cotton  indigenous  to  India  in  these  very  early 
times?  and  was' it  carried  and  afterwards  planted 
in  Egypt,  Africa,  and  America  ? 

As  an  attempt  is  made  to  successfully  answer 
this  question,  our  minds' are  thrown  back  to  the 
time  when  Christopher  Columbus,  a  Genoese,  hav- 
ing heard  of  India,  desired  to  find  a  new  way  to 
that  country.  Comparatively  poor  himself,  he 
was  unable  to  equip  an  expedition,  and  laid  his 
scheme  before  the  Council  of  Genoa.  They  de- 
clined to  have  anything  to  do  with  it,  and  he  is 
found  next  presenting  his  case  to  the  King  of 
Portugal.  Here  he  alike  failed,  and  he  ultimately 
applied  to  the  King  and  Queen  of  Spain,  when  he 
met  with  success. 

The  3rd  of  August,  1492,  found  him  fully 
equipped  with  two  ships,  and  on  his  way  west  to 

2 


1 8  THE  STORY  OF   THE 

find  a  new  way  to  India.  He  first  touched  the 
Bahamas  thirty  days  after  setting  sail  from  Eu- 
rope, and  to  his  astonishment  he  was  met  by  the 
natives,  who  came  out  to  meet  him  in  canoes, 
bringing  with  them  cotton  yarn  and  thread  for 
the  purpose  of  barter.  In  Cuba  he  was  surprised 
to  find  hammocks  made  from  cotton  cord  in  very 
general  use.  What  Columbus  observed  in  the 
West  Indies  as  to  the  growth  and  manufacture  of 
cotton,  was  found  afterwards  to  be  by  no  means 
confined  to  these  islands,  but  that  in  South  and 
Central  America  the  natives  were  quite  accus- 
tomed both  to  the  growth  and  manufacture  of 
cotton. 

Indisputable  evidence  can  be  presented  to 
prove  that  the  ancient  civilisations  of  Mexico, 
Peru,  and  Central  America,  were  well  acquainted 
with  cotton.  When  Peru  was  subjugated  in  1522 
by  Pizarro,  the  manufacture  of  cotton  was  in  a 
flourishing  condition. 

Similarly  when  Mexico  fell  into  the  hands  of 
Cortez  in  1519,  he  too  found  that  the  use  of  cot- 
ton was  very  general.  So  delighted  was  he  at 
what  he  saw  of  the  quality  and  beauty  of  their 
manufactured  goods,  that  he  had  no  hesitation  in 
dispatching  to  Europe  a  present  consisting  of 
mantles,  to  the  Emperor  Charles  V. 

Five  years  after  Columbus  started  on  his  mo- 
mentous voyage,  another  expedition  under  Vasco 
da  Gama  set  out  from  the  Tagus  to  make  the  voy- 
age to  India  by  the  way  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 

Immediately  Gama  had  safely  reached  India, 
there  were  othefs  who  quickly  desired  to  follow, 
and  in  1516  another  adventurous  Spaniard  on  his 
way  to  India  called  at  S.  Africa,  and  found  the 
natives  wearing  garments  made  of  cotton. 


COTTON    PLANT.  19 

There  is  therefore  no  reason  to  question  the 
statement  which  has  repeatedly  been  made,  that 
at  least  three  centres  are  known  in  which  the 
Cotton  plant  from  very  early  times  has  been  in- 
digenous, and  that  the  peoples  of  these  countries 
were  well  acquainted  with  the  properties  and  uses 
of  the  cotton  wool  obtained  from  the  plant.  The 
astonishing  number  of  751,000  bales,  each  weigh- 
ing 700  Ibs.,  was  exported  from  Egypt  last  year, 
and  the  question  has  been  raised  whether  the  cul- 
tivation of  the  plant  in  Egypt  can  be  said  to  date 
far  back.  This  is  not  so.  The  fibre  almost  ex- 
clusively used  by  the  ancient  Egyptians  was  flax, 
and  the  nature  of  the  garments  covering  the  mum- 
mies of  the  ancient  Egyptians  has  been  satisfac- 
torily decided  by  the  microscope.  It  is  very 
probable  that  the  cultivation  of  the  plant  at  the 
beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century  was  carried 
on  purely  for  the  purpose  of  ornamental  garden- 
ing, and  even  when  the  seventeenth  century  was 
fairly  well  advanced,  the  Egyptians  still  imported 
cotton. 

The  nineteenth  century,  however,  has  seen  im- 
portant developments  in  the  cultivation  of  cotton 
in  Egypt,  and  now  the  position  attained  by  this 
country  is  only  outdistanced  by  the  United  States 
and  India. 

The  Botany  of  Cotton. — Botanists  tell  us  that 
the  vegetable  kingdom  is  primarily  divided  into 
three  great  classes — viz.,  (i)  Dicotyledons;  (2) 
Monocotyledons;  and  (3)  Acotyledons. 

Now  these  names  solely  refer  to  the  nature  and 
form  of  the  seeds  produced  by  the  plants,  and  by 
the  first  it  is  understood  that  a  single  seed  is 
divisible  into  two  seed  lobes  in  developing.  In 


20  THE   STORY   OF   THE 

the  case  of  the  second,  the  seed  is  formed  only  of 
one  lobe,  and  in  the  third  the  seed  is  wanting  as 
a  cotyledon,  but  the  method  of  propagation  is 
carried  on  by  what  are  called  spores.  We  have 
examples  of  the  last  -  named  class  in  the  "ferns, 
lycopods  and  horsetail  plants.  The  first  two  of 
the  above-named  classes  have  been  well  called 
Seed  plants.  These  are  again  broken  up  into 
divisions,  to  which  the  name  Natural  Orders  has 
been  given.  Most  of  us  know,  as  the  following 
are  examined,  Anemone,  Buttercup,  Marsh  Mari- 
gold, Globe  Flower,  and  Larkspur,  that  they  have 
the  same  general  structural  arrangement,  but  in 
many  particulars  they  differ.  Thus  these  natural 
orders  are  again  subdivided  into  genera,  and  a 
still  further  subdivision  into  species  is  made. 

The  Cotton  plant  is  put  in  the  genus  Gossypium, 
which  is  one  falling  into  the  natural  order  Malvaca, 
and  which  is  one  of  a  very  large  number  forming 
an  important  division  of  the  dicotyledons  where  the 
stamens  are  found  to  be  inserted  below  the  pistil, 
and  where  the  corolla  is  composed  of  free  separate 
petals,  and  where  the  plant  has  a  flower  bearing 
both  calyx  and  corolla.  So  far  as  numbers  are 
concerned,  the  Malvacae  cannot  be  said  to  be  im- 
portant, but  few  genera  being  known  to  fall  into 
this  order.  Three  are  familiar  at  least — viz.,  the 
Marsh  Mallow,  which  was  formerly  used  a  great 
deal  in  making  ointment;  the  Musk  -Mallow,  and 
the  Tree  Mallow.  The  most  important  genus  in 
this  order  is  the  Gossypium.  This  name  was 
given  to  the  Cotton  plant  by  Pliny,  though  the 
reasons  for  so  doing  are  not  clear.  Very  many 
species  are  known  to  exist  at  the  present  time, 
and  this  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  when  the  area 
in  which  the  plant  is  cultivated  is  so  vast,  and 


COTTON   PLANT.  21 

coupled  with  the  fact  that  the  plant  is  susceptible 
to  the  slightest  change  and  "  sports  "  most  readily. 

Differences  of  soil,  climate,  position  with  re- 
gard to  the  sea  board,  and  variations  in  the 
method  of  cultivation  could  only  be  expected  to 
result  in  the  species  being  exceedingly  numerous. 
It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  to  find  that  no  two 
botanists  agree  as  to  the  number  of  species  com- 
prising the  Gossypium  family.  A  list,  however,  of 
the  commoner  varieties  found  in  various  cotton- 
growing  areas  of  the  globe  will  be  given,  but  be- 
fore doing  so,  it  is  deemed  advisable  to  give  a 
general  botanical  description  of  the  plant. 

The  Gossypium  is  either  herbaceous,  shrubby, 
or  treelike,  varying  in  height  from  three  to  twenty 
feet.  In  some  cases  it  is  perennial;  in  most,  as  in 
the  cultivated  species,  it  is  an  annual  or  biennial. 
A  few  examples  are  noted  for  the  vast  number  of 
hairs  found  everywhere  on  the  plant,  and  on  al- 
most every  part  of  the  plant  also,  there  may  be 
observed  black  spots  or  glands.  Usually  the 
stem  is  erect,  and  as  a  rule  the  Cotton  plant  in 
form  is  not  unlike  the  fir  tree,  that  is,  its  lower 
branches  are  wider  than  those  above,  and  this 
gradual  tapering  extends  to  the  top  of  the  tree. 
In  consequence  of  this  it  is  said  to  be  terete.  The 
leaves  are  alternate,  veined  and  petiolated,  that  is, 
they  have  a  leaf  stalk  connecting  leaf  and  stem. 
In  shape  the  leaves  are  cordate  or  heart-shaped, 
as  well  as  sub-cordate,  and  the  number  of  lobes 
found  in  the  leaf  varies  from  three  to  seven. 
The  stipules  or  little  appendages  found  on  the 
petioles,  resembling  small  leaves  in  appearance 
and  texture,  are  generally  found  in  pairs.  The 
calyx  is  cup-shaped,  and  the  petals  of  the  flower 
are  very  conspicuous,  and  vary  in  colour  accord- 


22  THE   STORY   OF  THE 

ing  to  the  species,  being  brownish-red,  purple, 
rose-coloured,  and  yellow.  The  petals,  five  in 
number,  are  often  joined  together  at  the  base. 
The  ovary  is  sessile,  that  is,  it  directly,  rests  upon 
the  main  stem,  and  is  usually  three  to  five  celled. 
The  pod  or  capsule,  which  contains  the  seeds  and 
cotton  fibre,  when  ripe  splits  into  valves,  which 
vary  in  number  from  three  to  five.  A  character- 
istic feature  of  the  pod  is  the  sharp  top  point 
which  is  clearly  shown  in  the  frontispiece  of  this 
book.  The  seeds  are  numerous  and  very  seldom 
smooth,  being  usually  thickly  covered  with  fibrous 
matter  known  as  raw  cotton.  As  is  well  known, 
the  wind  performs  a  very  important  function  in 
the  dispersal  of  seeds.  It  is  clear  that  when  a 
seed  is  ready  to  be  set  free,  and  is  provided  by  a 
tuft  of  hair,  such  as  is  seen  on  the  cotton  seed, 
dandelion  and  willow  herb,  it  becomes  a  very 
easy  matter  for  it  to  be  carried  ever  so  far,  when 
a  good  breeze  is  blowing.  Most  of  us  have 
blown,  when  children,  at  the  crown  of  white 
feathery  matter  in  the  dandelion,  and  have  been 
delighted  to  see  the  fcny  parachutes  carrying  off 
its  tiny  seed  to  be  afterward  deposited,  and  ulti- 
mately take  root  and  appear  as  a  new  plant. 
Much  in  the  same  way,  before  it  was  cultivated, 
the  Cotton  plant  perpetuated  its  own  species.  It 
should  be  added  that  the  root  of  the  Cotton 
plant  is  tap  shaped,  and  penetrates  deeply  into 
the  earth. 

It  would  be  well  nigh  impossible  to  enumer- 
ate all  the  species  which  are  now  known  in  the 
Cotton  plant  family,  and  it  is  not  proposed  here 
to  describe  more  than  the  principal  types  of  the 
Gossypium.  In  a  report  prepared  by  Mr.  Tracy 
of  Mississippi,  U.  S.  A.,  no  less  than  one  hundred 


COTTON   PLANT.  23 

and  thirty  varieties  of  American  cotton  are  given. 
He  says:  "The  word  '  variety  '  refers  exclusively 
to  the  various  forms  and  kinds  which  are  called 
varieties  by  cotton  planters,  and  is  not  restricted 
to  the  more  marked  and  permanent  types  which 
are  recognised  by  botanists.  Of  botanical  varie- 
ties there  are  but  few,  while  of  agricultural  varie- 
ties there  are  an  almost  infinite  number,  and  the 
names  under  which  the  agricultural  varieties  are 
known  are  many  times  greater  than  the  recog- 
nisable forms."  The  Cotton  plant  most  readily 
responds  to  any  changes  of  climate,  methods  of 
cultivation,  change  of  soil  or  of  fertilizers.  So 
that  it  is  easy  to  understand  in  a  plant  so  suscep- 
tible and  prone  to  vary  as  is  the  cotton,  that  new 
species  may  in  a  few  years  be  brought  into  exist- 
ence, and  especially  by  means  of  proper  selection 
of  the  seed,  and  careful  cultivation. 

The  chief  commercial  types  of  Gossypium  are 
— i.  Barbadense;  2.  Herbaceum\  3.  Hirsutum;  4. 
Arbor  eum\  5.  Neglectum\  6.  Peruvianum. 

Gossypium  Barbadense. — The  fine  long  silky 
fibres  of  commerce  are  all  derived  from  this  spe- 
cies. It  is  indigenous  to  a  group  of  the  West 
Indian  Islands  named  the  Lesser  Antilles.  It 
gets  its  name  from  Barbadoes,  one  of  the  West 
Indies.  At  the  present  time  it  is  cultivated 
throughout  the  Southern  States  of  North  America 
which  border  on  the  sea,  in  most  of  the  West 
Indian  Islands,  Central  America,  Western  Africa 
lying  between  the  tropics,  Bourbon,  Egypt,  Aus- 
tralia, and  the  East  Indies.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  the  plant  comes  to  its  highest  and  most  per- 
fect state  of  cultivation  when  it  is  planted  near 
the  sea.  Dr.  Evans  says:  "It  may  be  cultivated 
in  any  region  adapted  to  the  olive  and  near  the 


THE  STORY  OF  THE 


FIG.  4. — The  Gossypium  Barbadense. 


COTTON   PLANT,  25 

sea,  the  principal  requisite  being  a  hot  and  humid 
atmosphere,  but  the  results  of  acclimatisation  in- 
dicate that  the  humid  atmosphere  is  not  entirely 
necessary  if  irrigation  be  employed,  as  this  species 
is  undoubtedly  grown  extensively  in  Egypt."  The 
height  of  this  species  varies  from  3  to  4  feet  if 
cultivated  as  an  annual,  and  from  6  to  8  feet  if 
allowed  to  grow  as  a  perennial.  When  in  full  leaf 
and  flower,  it  is  a  most  graceful-looking  plant. 
Yarns  having  the  finest  counts,  as  they  are  called, 
are  all  spun  from  Sea  Islands,  which  belongs  to 
this  class.  When  we  are  told  that  a  single  pound 
of  this  cotton  is  often  spun  into  a  thread  about 
160  miles  long  we  can  see  that  it  must  be  exceed- 
ingly good  and  strong  cotton  to  do  this. 

Lint  is  the  name  given  to  the  cotton  which 
remains  when  separated  from  the  seeds.  Every 
other  American  type  of  cotton  gives  a  greater 
percentage  of  lint  than  the  Sea  Islands  cotton, 
though  it  should  'be  stated  that  the  price  per 
pound  is  greater  than  any  other  kind  of  cotton 
grown  in  the  States.  There  are  from  six  to  nine 
seeds  in  each  capsule  and  the  prevailing  colour  is 
black.  A  cotton  grown  in  Egypt  and  known  by 
the  name  Gallini  is  of  the  Sea  Islands  type  and 
has  been  produced  from  seed  of  the  G.  Barba- 
dense.  It  should  be  added  that  the  colour  of  the 
flower  is  yellow  and  that  in  India  this  plant  is 
known  by  the  name  of  Bourbon  Cotton. 


/  Gossypium  Herbaceum. — As  indicated  by  the 
name,  this  type  is  herbaceous  in  character,  especi- 
ally the  cultivated  type.  When  Lamarck  classi- 
fied tfeis  tree,  he  gave  it  the  name  Indicum  be- 
cause he  considered  most  of  the  Indian  types  and 


26  THE   STORY   OF  THE 

some  of  the  Chinese  belonged  to  this  particular 
species.  India,  too,  is  considered  by  Parlatore  to 
have  been  the  original  home  of  the  herbaceous 
type,  and  he  specially  fixes  the  Coromandel  Coast 
as  the  first  centre  from  which  it  sprang.  There 
is  much  conflict  of  opinion  in  localising  the  primi- 
tive habitat  of  this  type,  and  it  is  now  thought  that 
the  present  stack  is  probably  the  result  of  hybri- 
disation of  several  species  more  or  less  related  to 
each  other.  However,  the  areas  in  which  this  class 
of  cotton  grows  are  very  numerous  and  extensive, 
for  we  find  it  growing  in  India,  China,  Arabia, 
Persia,  Asia  Minor,  and  Africa.  A  very  charac- 
teristic feature  of  this  plant  is  that  it  quickly  de- 
cays after  podding,  when  cultivated  as  an  annual. 

The  Vine  Cotton  grown  in  Cuba  belongs  to  the 
herbaceous  type  and  is  remarkable  for  its  large 
pods,  which  contain  an  abnormal  number  of  seeds. 
The  so-called  "  Nankeen  "  cottons  are  said  to  be 
"  Colour  variations "  of  the  herbaceous  Cotton 
plant.  Many  varieties  of  Egyptian  cottons  are 
produced  from  this  particular  class,  as  well  as  the 
Surat  cotton  of  India. 

A  feature  which  distinguishes  this  type  is  that 
the  seeds  are  covered  with  two  kinds  of  fibre,  a 
long  and  short,  the  latter  being  very  dense.  The 
process  of  taking  the  longer  fibre  from  the  seed 
must  be  very  carefully  watched,  as  it  becomes  a 
troublesome  matter  to  remove  the  shorter  fibre 
when  once  it  has  come  away  from  the  seed  with 
the  longer.  Hence  great  care  should  be  taken  in 
gathering  this  class  of  cotton.  Another  point 
which  should  not  be  lost  sight  of  is,  that  the  her- 
baceous type  of  Cotton  plant  readily  hybridises 
with  some  other  varieties  and  the  result  is  a  strain 
of  much  better  quality. 


COTTON   PLANT.  27 

Gossypium  Hirsutum. — This  variety  is  so  called 
because  of  the  hairy  nature  of  every  part  of  the 
plant,  leaves,  stems,  branches,  pods  and  seeds — 
all  having  short  hairs  upon  them.  By  Dr.  Royle 
it  is  considered  a  sub-variety  of  the  Barbadense 
cotton,  and  by  other  American  experts  it  is  given 
as  synonymous  with  G.  Herbaceum.  However 
this  may  be,  the  plant  has  certain  well-defined 
characteristics  which  possibly  entitle  it  to  be  con- 
sidered as  a  distinct  type.  It  has  been  asserted 
by  a  competent  authority  that  the  original  habitat 
of  this  particular  cotton  was  Mexico,  and  that 
from  this  country  cultivators  have  imported  it 
throughout  the  sub-tropical  districts  of  the  world. 

It  is  also  stated  that  longstapled  Georgian 
Uplands  cotton  belongs  to  the  Hirsutum  variety. 
In  fact  most  of  the  types  cultivated  in  America 
fall  into  this  class.  Parlatore  also  considers  it 
to  be  indigenous  to  Mexico,  and  states  that  all 
green  seeded  cotton  which  is  so  extensively  cul- 
tivated has  been  obtained  from  this  type  origi- 
nally. M.  Deschamps,  in  describing  the  Hirsutum 
species,  says  it  is  divided  into  two  varieties,  one 
having  green  seeds,  being  of  a  hardier  type,  and 
the  other  having  greyish  seeds,  being  more  deli- 
cate and  growing  in  the  more  southern  districts 
of  the  States. 

\J Gossypium  Arboreum. — This  plant  attains  tree- 
like proportions,  hence  the  name  Arboreum.  In 
some  cases  it  will  grow  as  high  as  twenty  feet. 
It  is  also  known  by  the  name  G.  Religiosum,  be- 
cause the  cotton  spun'  from  this  plant  was  used 
only  for  making  threads  which  were  woven  into 
cloth  for  making  turbans  for  the  priests  of  India. 
Dr.  Royle  on  one  occasion  while  in  that  country 


28  THE  STORY  OF  THE 

was  informed  by  the  head  gardener  of  a  Botanical 
Garden  at  Saharunpore  that  this  cotton  was  not 
used  for  making  cloth  for  the  lower  garments  at 
all,  its  use  being  restricted  to  turbans  for  their 
heads,  as  it  was  sacred  to  the  gods.  That  is  why 
it  also  received  the  name,  "Deo  Cotton." 

One  or  two  interesting  features  of  this  type 
may  be  pointed  out.  The  colour  of  the  flowers  is 
characteristic,  being  brownish  and  purply-red  and 
having  a  dark  spot  purple  in  colour  near  the  base 
of  the  corolla,  this  latter  being  bell-shaped.  Like 
the  herbaceous  type  two  kinds  of  fibre  are  found 
on  the  seed  and  great  care  is  needed  in  the  sepa- 
ration of  them.  Also,  it  should  be  pointed  out 
that  the  fibres,  in  this  class  are  with  difficulty 
removed  from  the  seed,  clinging  very  tenaciously 
to  it. 

The  Arboreum  type  is  indigenous  to  India  and 
along  the  sea  board  washed  by  the  Indian  Ocean. 
The  fibre  from  this  species  is  much  shorter  in  av- 
erage length  than  any  of  the  preceding  varieties. 

Gossypium  Neglectum. — This  too  is  an  Indian 
cotton,  and  according  to  Royle  the  celebrated  and 
beautiful  Dacca  cotton  which  gives  the  famous 
muslins,  as  well  as  the  long  cloth  of  Madras,  are 
made  from  cotton  obtained  from  the  Neglectum 
variety.  An  important  feature  of  this  plant  is  the 
small  pod  which  bears  the  fibre  and  the  small 
number  of  seeds  contained  in  each  septa  of  the 
capsule  being  only  from  five  to  eight  in  number. 
Like  some  preceding  forms,  the  seeds  carry  cotton 
of  two  lengths,  the  shorter  of  the  two  being  ashy 
green  in  colour.  The  longer  fibre  is  harsh  to  the 
touch  and  white  in  colour.  In  many  points  it  is 
very  similar  to  the  Arboreum  type  and  is  con- 


COTTON    PLANT.  29 

sidered  by  some  botanists  to  be  a  cross  between 
the  Arboreum  species  and  some  other.  It  does 
not  attain  any  great  height,  being  often  in  bush 
form  under  two  feet.  The  country  of  Five  Rivers 
or  the  Punjaub,  North  West  Provinces  and  Ben- 
gal, are  the  districts  in  India  in  wfiich  it  is  mostly 
cultivated  as  a  field  crop.  It  has  a  high  com- 
mercial value,  forming  the  main  bulk  of  the  cot- 
ton produced  in  the  Bengal  presidency.  This 
plant  is  indigenous  to  India. 

Gossypium  Peruvianum. — So  called  because  Peru 
was  considered  to  be  the  habitat  of  this  cotton. 
By  some  authorities  this  particular  species  is  for 
all  practical  purposes  synonymous  with  the  first 
type  described — viz.,  Barbadense.  By  others  it  is 
said  to  be  closely  allied  to  the  Acuminatum  va- 
riety, so  named  because  of  the  pointed  character 
of  its  capsules  and  leaves.  Perhaps  the  most 
striking  feature  of  this  plant  is  the  colour  of  the 
seeds,  which  is  black.  Another  interesting  point 
about  the  seeds  is  that  they  adhere  closely  to  each 
other,  and  form  a  cone-like  mass.  Brazil  is  the 
home  of  this  particular  species,  though  it  is  culti- 
vated here  in  two  forms,  as  "  Tree  Cotton  "  and 
as  "  Herbaceous  Cotton."  The  former  is  also 
known  by  the  name  Crioulo  or  Maranhao  Cotton 
or  short  Mananams.  It  appears  also  that  the 
Tree  Cotton  is  one  of  the  very  few  which  does 
not  suffer  from  the  depredations  of  the  cotton 
caterpillar.  What  is  known  as  "  Kidney  Cotton  " 
belongs  to  this  species,  which  is  sometimes  named 
Braziliense.  The  name  kidney  is  given  because 
of  the  peculiar  manner  in  which  the  seeds  are 
arranged  in  the  capsule,  adhering  together  in  each 
cell  in  the  form  of  a  kidney. 


30  THE  STORY  OF  THE 

The  most  important  countries  in  which  it  is 
grown  are  Brazil  and  Peru,  though  it  is  produced 
in  other  districts  outside  these  countries,  but  not 
to  any  great  extent. 

A  very  curious  cotton  which  receives  the  name 
of  u  Red  Peruvian  "  is  also  produced  in  South 
America.  On  account  of  its  colour,  it  has  only 
a  very  limited  sale.  This  is  owing  to  the  difficulty 
there  is  in  blending  or  mixing  it  with  any  other 
cotton  of  similar  quality. 

Cottons  known  generally  as  Santos,  Caera  and 
Pernams  are  not  of  this  species — viz.,  Gossypium 
Peruvianum,  but  belong  to  the  first  and  second  of 
the  types  already  described. 


The  Strength  of  Cotton  Fibres.— Mr.  O'Neill 
some  years  ago  made  many  experiments  with  a 
view  to  obtaining  the  strengths  of  the  different 
fibres,  and  the  following  table  compiled  by  him, 
will  be  of  interest  to  the  general  reader. 


Sea  Islands  .     .     . 
Queensland     . 
Egyptian       .     .     . 
Maranham 
Bengueld  .... 
Pernarabuco    .     . 
New  Orleans     .     . 
Upland  .... 
Surat  (Dhollerah)  . 
Surat  (Comptah)  . 

83.9  mean  bre 
147.6 
127.2 
107.1 
100.6 
140.2 
147.7 
104.5 
141.9 
163.7 

aking  strain  in  grains. 
<t 

From  this  table  it  is  arguable  that  the  strength 
of  fibre  varies  according  to  the  diameter,  that  is 
to  say,  the  fibre  with  the  thickest  diameter  carries 
the  highest  strain.  The  order,  therefore,  in  which 
the  fibres  would  fall,  according  to  strength,  would 


COTTON   PLANT.  31 

be,  Indian,  American,  Australian,  Brazilian,  Egyp- 
tian, and  Sea  Islands  last. 

The  Chemistry  of  the  Cotton  Plant. — Messrs. 

M'Bryde  &  Beal,  Chemists  in  the  Experimental 
Station  at  Tennessee,  say,  "  As  a  rule  our  staple 
agricultural  plants  have  not  received  the  thorough, 
systematic  chemical  investigation  that  their  im- 
portance demands."  It  would  appear  that  until 
recent  times  the  above  statement  was  only  too 
true.  Now,  however,  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment and  others  have  instituted  experiments  on  a 
large  scale,  and  everything  is  now  being  done  in 
the  direction  of  research,  with  a  view  to  improving 
the  quality  of  this  important  plant. 

A  complete  Cotton  plant  consists  of  roots, 
stems,  leaves,  bolls,  seed  and  lint.  Now  if  these 
six  parts  of  the  plant  be  weighed,  they  vary  very 
much,  proving  that  some  of  them  are  more  ex- 
haustive than  others,  so  far  as  the  fertilizing  mat- 
ters found  in  the  soil  are  concerned.  For  ex- 
ample, if  water  be  discarded  in  the  calculation, 
though  this  takes  up  a  fair  percentage  of  the 
total  weight,  about  10,  it  is  found  that  the  roots 
take  up  by  wjsight  over  8  per  cent,  of  the  whole  ' 
plant,  stems  over  23  per  cent.,  leaves  over  20, 
bolls  over  14,  seeds  over  23,  and  lint  only  io£  per 
cent. 

Now  this  statement  is  interesting  as  showing 
one  or  two  important  features.  The  weight  of  the 
seed  is  seen  to  be  nearly  a  quarter  of  the  whole 
plant,  while  the  stems  and  leaves  together  take 
up  nearly  one  half.  A  very  small  proportion  by 
weight  of  the  plant  is  taken  by  the  lint. 

A  chemical  analysis  of  the  mature  Cotton 
plant  yielded  the  following  substances: — 


32  THE   STORY   OF   THE 

Water.  Potash. 

Ash.  Lime. 

Nitrogen.  Magnesia. 

Phosphoric  acid.  Sulphuric  acid. 
Insoluble  matter. 

Of  ten  analyses  made  with  the  cotton  lint 
(which  takes  up  about  10-^-  per  cent,  of  the  whole) 
M'Bryde  states  that  the  average  amount  of  water 
found  was  6.77,  ash  1.8,  nitrogen  .2,  phosphoric 
acid  .05,  potash  .85,  lime  .15,  and  magnesia  .16. 

He  very  pertinently  remarks  also  "  that  if  the 
lint  were  the  only  part  of  the  plant  removed  from 
the  land  on  which  it  is  grown,  cotton  would  be 
one  of  the  least  exhaustive  of  farm  crops.  The 
only  other  part  which  need  be  permanently  lost 
to  the  soil  is  the  oil,  which  also  contains  very 
small  amounts  of  fertilising  constituents."  In 
connection  with  this  he  further  says  u  that  even 
when  the  seed  is  taken  away  along  with  the  lint, 
cotton  still  removes  smaller  amounts  of  fertilis- 
ing materials  from  the  soil  than  either  oats  or 
corn."  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  soil 
upon  which  cotton  is  cultivated  lies  fallow  for  a 
greater  part  of  the  year,  and  the  fact  of  absence 
of  cultivation,  with  consequent  non-fertilising  and 
non-enriching  of  land,  must  tend  in  the  direction 
of  soil  exhaustion  by  the  Cotton  plant. 

Another  useful  and  important  fact  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Cotton  plant  is  the  medicinal  use 
to  which  the  roots  are  put.  According  to  the 
American  Journal  of  Pharmacy,  the  bark  from  the 
roots  of  the  Cotton  plant  contain  an  active  in- 
gredient which  in  its  effects  is  very  much  like 
ergot. 

Chemical    investigations    have     conclusively 


COTTON   PLANT.  33 

proved  that  the  ripe  fibre  of  the  Cotton  plant  is 
composed  of  the  following  substances  : — 

Carbon,  Hydrogen,  Oxygen,  and  they  tell  us 
that  when  cotton  is  fully  ripe  it  is  almost  pure 
cellulose. 

Dr.  Bowman  has  pointed  out  that  the  percent- 
age of  water  in  cotton  fibre  "  varies  with  different 
seasons  from  i  to  4  per  cent,  in  the  new  crop,  and 
rather  less  as  the  season  advances.  Above  2  per 
cent,  of  moisture,  however,  seems  to  be  an  ex-^ 
cessive  quantity  even  in  a  new  crop  cotton,  and 
when  more  than  this  is  present  it  is  either  the 
result  of  a  wet  season  and  the  cotton  has  been 
packed  before  drying,  or  else  it  has  been  artificial- 
ly added." 

About  one  fifth  of  the  whole  plant  by  weight 
consists  of  the  seed,  and  an  analysis  of  this  shows 
them  to  be  composed  of  water,  ash,  nitrogen, 
phosphoric  acid,  potash,  soda,  lime,  magnesia,  sul- 
phuric acid,  ferric  oxide,  chlorine,  and  insoluble 
matter. 

As  a  commercial  product  seeds  are  exceeding- 
ly valuable,  and  yield  the  following  substances  : — 
oil,  meal,  hulls,  and  linters.  When  the  hulls  are 
ground  they  receive  the  name  of  cotton  seed 
bran.  The  inside  of  the  seed,  when  the  hull  has 
been  removed,  is  often  called  the  kernel  and  is 
sometimes  also  designated  peeled  seed,  hulled 
seed,  and  meats.  It  is  this  kernel  seed  which, 
when  properly  treated,  yields  large  supplies  of  oil 
and  meal. 


34  THE  STORY  OF  THE 

CHAPTER  II, 

COTTON-PLANT   DISEASES   AND    PESTS, 

THERE  are  several  classes  of  agents  all  of 
which  act  injuriously  more  or  less  on  the  Cotton 
plant, 

\.  Climatic  changes,  including  hygrometric 
variations  of  the  atmosphere,  and  ex- 
tremes of  heat  and  cold, 

2,  Insect  pests, 

3,  Physiological  diseases  of  the  plant, 

4,  Blights  caused  by  fungi, 

It  has  been  pointed  out  in  the  early  pages  of 
this  story,  how  very  sensible  to  changes  of  heat 
and  cold,  the  Cotton  plant  is,  especially  in  the 
early  growing  period.  When  the  plant  has  just 
risen  above  the  ground,  and  is  beginning  to  spread 
its  roots,  too  great  an  amount  of  heat  would  be 
fatal  to  its  further  growth. 

Instances  could  be  given  where  very  serious 
decreases  in  the  production  of  cotton  in  the 
States  especially  have  taken  place,  due  entirely 
to  unusually  high  temperatures  which  obtained 
during  the  early  growing  period  of  the  Cotton 
plant. 

Extremes  of  frost  are  likewise  fatal  to  the 
growth  of  the  young  plant.  By  the  beginning  of 
April,  frosts  have  as  a  rule  disappeared,  and  no 
further  fear  need  be  felt  on  that  account,  though 
if  the  end  of  winter  has  been  abnormally  warm, 
and  the  young  plants  have  been  making  leaf  too 
quickly,  it  will  be  readily  seen  how  fatal  a  sharp 
frost  or  two  must  be  to  the  young  and  tender 


COTTONS 

There  are  cases.  however,  when  a.  frost  is 


:  :      :;:  r^--  ;::>:;;  vt-i  :     T:: 

::»       1:    :.i;         -      :      ir? 
win  i^s  cjrop  is  i^e^k  is  Sm 

::    -A-.-t:   -  -  -i-    r^: 

F^% »_ _    -  mTmT m  m      ^^ 

'  ,         -     ~-  -  * ,: ;        -  :  - 

;      : " ;       i  ~ :  j.:       >.   r  ;  : :.  - .  >r    :    ^  - 


exteat.  wfea  a  wast  qmaatkr  of 

- 
: : :  : '      :    .  - 

01  a21  t&e  nil 

:    r    :•:::    -~-         ^    :  >:~  ::s      :    :    r 


- 


36  THE   STORY   OF   THE 

The  operations  of  the  former  are  mostly  con- 
fined to  devastating  the  leaves  and  buds,  while 
the  latter  confines  its  special  attention  to  the  bolls 
which,  were  they  allowed  to  ripen,  would  burst 
with  cotton. 

The  eggs  of  the  former,  too,  are  laid  on  the 
under  side  of  the  upper  leaves  and  vast  numbers 
are  deposited.  The  moth  flies  by  night,  and  the 
eggs  laid  are  extremely  difficult  to  discover — in- 
deed it  takes  an  expert  to  quickly  find  them. 

Usually,  about  midsummer,  the  eggs  are 
hatched  in  three  or  four  days  and  then  comes  the 
period  for  spoliation. 

All  that  is  tender  is  assimilated,  usually  the 
under  side  of  the  young  tender  leaves  found  at 
the  top  of  the  plant. 

During  this  stage  of  its  existence  the  cater- 
pillar moults  five  times  and  the  larva  period 
varies  somewhat  according  to  the  weather  from 
one  to  three  weeks. 

The  chrysalis  or  pupa  state  covers  from  one 
week  to  four,  and  at  last  emerges  as  a  beautiful 
olive  gray  moth  with  a  purplish  lustre. 

In  about  four  days  the  female  commences  to 
lay  eggs  very  rapidly  and  will  lay  sometimes  as 
many  as  six  hundred  during  its  life.  No  wonder, 
then,  with  several  generations  during  a  season  and 
vast  numbers  of  moths,  that  untold  damages  can 
be  wrought  by  these  particular  insects  in  a  single 
season.  * 

A  number  of  remedies  has  been  successfully 
applied  in  the  direction  of  spraying  various 
chemical  solutions,  and  in,  sowing  plants  which 
have  had  the  direct  effect  of  reducing  the  spread 
of  this  terrible  pest.  Its  method  of  working  can 
be  seen  on  referring  to  Fig.  4. 


COTTON    PLANT.  37 

Now  the  Boll-Caterpillar,  though  it  lives  much 
in  the  same  way  as  the  Alethia,  has  a  very  differ- 
ent method  of  procedure  so  far  as  its  destructive 
habits  are  concerned. 

And  its  fields  and  pastures,  too,  are  by  no  means 
confined  to  one  continent,  or  to  one  kind  of  plant, 
for  it  attacks  both  the  tomato  and  corn  plants. 
According  to  Dr.  Howard,  "  It  feeds  upon  peas, 
beans,  tobacco,  pumpkin,  squash,  okra,  and  a 
number  of  garden  flowering  plants,  such  as  culti- 
vated geranium,  gladiolus,  mignonette,  as  well  as 
a  number  of  wild  plants."  As  the  name  indicates, 
the  Boll-Caterpillar  makes  the  boll  its  happy 
hunting-ground.  The  eggs  are  laid  in  the  same 
way  by  the  parent  moth  as  the  Cotton  Cater- 
pillar or  Alethia,  and  when  hatched  the  young 
powerfully  jawed  caterpillar  makes  its  way  to 
the  newly-formed  boll,  and  applying  itself  vigor- 
ously, very  soon  gains  an  entrance.  Here  it 
rests  for  a  time,  eating  away  at  the  best  it  can 
find.  It  ultimately  emerges  and  is  transformed 
into  the  pupa,  taking  up  its  quarters  in  the 
ground,  until  the  next  change  takes  place,  when 
in  a  week  or  two's  time  it  appears  as  a  moth 
much  the  same  in  size  as  its  cousin  the  Alethia, 
but  coloured  ochre  yellow  to  dull  olive-green 
and  being  more  varied  in  its  markings.  It  will 
lay  during  one  season  about  500  eggs. 

Many  remedies  have  been  applied  for  the 
extirpation  of  this  particular  insect,  but  these 
only  seem  to  have  met  with  partial  success. 
It  will  readily  be  seen  how  much  more  difficult 
this  pest  is  to  deal  with  than  the  preceding  one. 
Living  as  it  does  in  the  boll  and  in  the  ground 
for  a  great  part  of  its  existence,  it  will  be  exceed- 
ingly difficult  to  get  at. 


38  THE   STORY   OF   THE 

In  Mexico  what  is  known  as  the  Cotton-Boll 
Weevil  (Anthonomus  grundis]  appears  to  do  great 
mischief  to  the  Cotton  plant.  It  does  most 
damage  during  the  larvae  stage,  eating  up  the 
tender  portions  of  the  boll  while  in  residence 
here.  When  matured  it  is  only  a  little  under  half 
an  inch  in  length. 

Many  other  insects  act  injuriously  upon  the 
Cotton  plant,  but  the  following  may  be  taken 
as  the  chief :  Cotton  Cutworm  (Feltia  malefida) ; 
Cotton  lice  (Aphis  gossypii).  Among  the  lepi- 
doptera  may  be  mentioned,  Coccecia  rosaceana, 
or  "  Leaf-roller,"  so  called  from  its  habit  of 
curiously  rolling  the  leaves  of  the  Cotton  plant 
and  then  feeding  inside  the  roll.  Then  grass- 
hoppers and  locusts  occasionally  do  some  damage, 
as  well  as  a  beetle  named  Ataxia  crypta,  which 
is  noted  for  attacking  the  stalks  of  the  Cotton 
plants,  but  it  should  be  pointed  out  this  beetle 
does  not  prey  upon  healthy  and  vigorous  plants 
at  all. 

Scores  of  other  insects  could  be  mentioned  as 
injurious,  though  some  of  them  do  but  very  slight 
damage  indeed  to  the  Cotton  plant. 

It  does  appear,  however,  from  long  years  of 
experiment  and  observations,  that  little  damage 
needs  to  be  feared  if  the  plants,  while  growing, 
and  during  the  formation  of  the  boll,  can  be  care- 
fully watched  and  guarded.  The  plants  when 
matured  are  better  able  to  withstand  the  on- 
slaughts which  these  predaceous  insects  make 
upon  them. 

Then  again,  there  are  large  numbers  of  phys- 
iological diseases  of  the  cotton  due  to  inherent 
weakness  of  the  plant  or  failure  of  assimilative 
processes. 


COTTON   PLANT.  39 

And  lastly,  vast  numbers  of  fungi,  too  nu- 
merous to  mention  here,  work  serious  injury  to 
leaf,  flower  and  boll  in  certain  seasons  of  the 
year. 


CHAPTER   III. 

CULTIVATION    OF    THE  COTTON    PLANT    IN 
DIFFERENT    COUNTRIES. 

FROM  what  has  already  been  said,  it  will  be 
quite  clear  that  the  Cotton  plant  will  only  suc- 
cessfully thrive  in  those  regions  on  the  earth's 
surface  where  there  are  suitable  temperature  and 
soil,  and  a  proper  and  adequate  supply  of  moisture 
both  in  the  atmosphere  and  soil.  When  the  45th 
parallel  of  North  Latitude  is  reached,  the  plant 
ceases  to  grow  except  under  glass  or  in  excep- 
tionally well  favoured  and  temperate  districts. 
Below  the  Equator  the  southern  limit  is  the  35th 
parallel. 

With  a  model  of  the  globe  before  him,  the 
reader  will  see,  if  he  mark  the  two  lines  already 
named,  what  a  small  belt  the  "  Cotton-growing 
zone "  is,  compared  with  the  rest  of  the  globe, 
and  yet  last  year  it  is  estimated  that  no  fewer  than 
9,201,000  bales  of  450  *lbs.  net  average  each  were 
produced  in  the  United  States  alone,  2,166,000 
came  from  the  cotton  fields  of  India,  while  from 
Egypt  no  less  than  751,000  bales  of  larger  type 
were  exported.  This  vast  quantity  does  not  in- 
clude what  was  produced  in  other  countries, 
which  we  know  in  the  aggfega»te  was  very  con- 
siderable. 


40  THE   STORY  OF   THE 

American  Cultivation  of  the   Cotton  Plant. — 

Perhaps  no  country  illustrates  the  fact  so  well  as 
does  the  United  States,  that  the  variations  in  the 
quality  of  cotton  are  very  largely — it  may  be 
said  almost  entirely — due  to  distance  from  sea 
board,  height  above  sea  level  and  difference  of 
soil. 

The  surface  geology  of  the  Southern  United 
States  as  a  whole,  is  of  a  most  diversified  char- 
acter, and  the  following  States  in  which  cotton 
is  produced,  in  many  cases  show  a  similar  va- 
riation. 

North  Carolina.  Tennessee. 

South  Carolina.  Alabama. 

Georgia.  Mississippi. 

Florida.  Louisiana. 

Arkansas.  Texas. 


Perhaps  Texas  shows  the  greatest  number  of 
distinct  soil  areas,  viz.,  eight.  Height  above  the 
sea  level  has  also  a  considerable  influence  upon 
the  plants  cultivated,  and  the  hardier  and  more 
robust  types  are  to  be  found  only  on  the  more 
elevated  lands.  At  the  beginning  of  the  present 
century  South  Carolina  produced  more  cotton 
than  any  other  State.  Fifty  years  after,  Alabama 
was  to  the  front.  Ten  years  later,  Mississippi  led 
the  way,  and  in  1890  Texas  occupied  the  premier 
position  with  1,471,242  bales,  closely  followed  by 
Georgia  and  Mississippi.  A 

The  following  table,  collated  by  Shepperson,  of 
the  acreage  devoted  to  cultivation  of  cotton  in 
the  United  States  of  America  in  1896  may  be 
useful : — 


COTTON  PLANT.                                     41 

N.  Carolina  .  .  .  1,228,214  acres. 

S.  Carolina    .  .  .  2,014,348 

Georgia  .  3,468,334 

Florida           .  .  264,325 

Alabama        .  .  .  2,656,333 

Mississippi     .  .  .  2,835,316 

Louisiana       .  .  .  1,245,400 

Texas             .  .  .  6,758,656 

Arkansas       .  .  1,542,652 

Tennessee      .  .  .  912,337 

Indian  Territory   .  .  342,684 

Missouri        .  .  .  77,868 

Virginia         .  47,747 

Kentucky      .  .  .          

Kansas           .  .  :          

Oklahoma      .  .  .  50,620 


23,445,334 

Before  dealing  with  the  actual  cultivation  of 
cotton,  as  carried  on  in  the  States,  it  will  be  well 
to  briefly  name  the  kind  of  soils  which  are  met 
with  in  this  cotton  area.  Generally  speaking, 
soils  are  divided  into  the  following  classes  : — 

Clayey  soils. 
Clayey  loam  soils. 
Loamy  soils. 
Sandy  loam  soils. 
Sandy  soils. 

This  classification  is  determined  by  the  relative 
percentage  of  sand  and  clay. 

In  the  States  we  have  all  these  types,  and  in 
some  districts  they  lie  within  easy  reach  of  each 
other.  It  should  be  pointed  out  that  sufficient 
and  uniform  heat  and  humidity  are  essential  to 


42  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

the  production  of  good  cotton  crops,  and  as  the 
sandy  soils  are  of  an  open  character,  it  is  plain 
that  moisture  will  readily  pass  from  these,  while 
the  heavy  clays  act  just  in  the  opposite  direc- 
tion, viz.,  prevent  the  uniform  evaporation  of  the 
moisture  within  them ;  hence,  as  a  rule,  clayey 
lands  are  moist  and  damp,  and  it  has  been  found 
from  observation  that  on  lands  of  this  class,  a 
good  deal  of  wood  and  leaf  are  produced,  and 
but  little  fruit  relatively.  A  matter  therefore 
which  must  not  be  lost  sight  of,  is  that  a  suitable 
texture  should  be  found,  or,  in  other  words,  the 
amount  of  sand  and  clay  in  the  soils  should  be 
in  the  right  proportion.  Of  course,  however 
suitable  a  soil  may  be,  if  the  climatic  conditions 
are  adverse,  only  failure  can  result.  Given  goocL 
land,  properly  drained  and  a  suitable  tempera- 
ture, together  with  an  uniform  supply  of  moisture, 
heavy  crops  may  be  expected.  Sudden  changes 
in  the  temperature,  and  variations  in  the  amount 
of  moisture,  certainly  act  deleteriously  upon. the 
plant,  especially  during  the  period  in  which  the 
young,one  is  growing.  There  is  a  great  difference 
between  a  wet  soil  and  a  moist  one,  and  there  is 
perhaps  nothing  so  much  dreaded  by  the  planters 
as  a  sodden  soil.  Up  to  the  end  of  July  the  soil 
should  be  continuously  and  uniformly  moist,  and 
it  would  appear  that,  provided  this  condition  is 
satisfied,  there  is  every  likelihood  of  a  heavy  crop 
resulting,  if  the  temperature  has  been  anything 
like  suitable.  Looked  at  from  every  point  of 
view,  therefore,  the  best  and  safest  soil  in  which 
to  grow  cotton  is  a  deep  loam  where  there  is 
every  probability  of  the  necessary  conditions  be- 
ing fulfilled. 

As  compared  with  sixty  years  ago  the  present 


COTTON   PLANT.  43 

methods  of  cultivation  show  very  great  differences. 
Most  of  us  are  acquainted  with  the  conditions  of 
labour  which  existed  at  that  time.  Mrs.  H. 
Beecher  Stowe,  in  her  pathetic  and  life-like  story, 
"  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  has  given  us  such  a 
glimpse  into  slave  life  that  she  has  placed  us  all 
under  lasting  obligations  to  her.  Happily  all  that 
has  gone  and  the  slave,  as  such,  is  now  known  no 
more  in  America.  Three  causes  are  said  to  have 
done  more  to  change  the  methods  of  American 
cotton  cultivation  than  anything  else,  viz.  : — 

The  Civil  War. 

The  abolition  of  slavery. 

Introduction  of  artificial  fertilisers. 

There  are  those  who  affirm  to-day  that  the  last- 
named  has  been  the  most  potent  factor  of  the 
three. 

In  many  cases,  previous  to  the  war,  crop  after 
crop  was  grown  upon  the  same  land  without  any 
thought  of  returning  those  elements,  in  the  form 
of  manure,  to  the  earth,  which  it  so  much  required. 
But  immediately  after  the  conclusion  of  the  war, 
the  conditions  of  labour  were  changed  and  it 
became  a  matter  of  absolute  necessity  to  find 
something  which  would  give  life  to  the  land, 
hence  the  introduction  of  fertilisers.  It  is  stated 
on  the  authority  of  Dr.  White  of  Georgia,  that 
it  would  be  "  difficult  to  conceive  how  cotton 
culture  could  have  been  continued  or  sustained 
but  for  the  use  of  such  manures." 

In  a  work  of  this  kind  it  is  impossible  to  de- 
scribe in  detail  the  various  methods  of  cultiva- 
tion adopted  in  the  several  cotton  States,  but  the 
following  will  give  a  fair  idea  of  what  actually 
takes  place  on  a  large  cotton  plantation,  assum- 


44  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

ing  that  the  land  is  well  drained.  It  should  be 
said  here  draining  has  not  received  that  attention 
which  it  ought  to  have  done,  and  many  of  the 
failures  put  down  to  other  causes  are  now  known 
to  have  been  due  entirely  to  bad  drainage.  As 
an  alternative  to  proper  drainage,  the^practice  of 
raising  the  Cotton  plant  beds  and  cultivating 
them  to  greater  depth,  has  been  followed.  Most 
of  the  planters  are  too  poor  to  drain  properly, 
and  so  adopt  the  banking  method,  though  in  the 
long  run  this  is  the  more  expensive  of  the  two. 

Let  us  assume  that  the  cotton  crop  has  all 
been  gathered.  We  have  an  immense  quantity  of 
old  cotton  stalks  which  need  removing.  This  is 
usually  done  before  February.  As  a  rule,  the 
litter  is  gathered  into  heaps  and  burned.  Plough- 
ing and  harrowing  next  follow,  and  ridges  are 
formed  which  in  the  elevated  districts  are  not 
quite  so  far  apart  as  in  the  low-lying  areas.  We 
can  see  that  in  the  latter  districts  the  plants  will 
be  much  more  prolific  and  grow  to  a  better  state 
of  perfection,  hence  more  room  must  be  allowed 
for  them.  These  ridges  lie,  in  some  cases,  3  feet 
apart  and  in  others  4  and  5. 

Especially  when  manures  or  fertilisers  have 
been  used,  bedding  up  is  generally  adopted. 

As  is  to  be  expected  in  a  country  like  Ameri- 
ca, the  very  best  and  most  approved  methods  of 
cultivation  are  followed,  hence  the  old  system  of 
sowing  seed  by  hand  is  discarded,  and  seed-plant- 
ing machines  are  now  coming  into  general  use. 
The  distance  apart  which  the  seeds  (about  five  or 
six  in  one  hole)  should  be  set,  is  still  a  moot  ques- 
tion, but  it  is  generally  admitted  to  be  unsafe  to 
plant  at  greater  distances  than  12  inches.  When 
sown,  a  light  covering  is  put  over,  and  in  a  few 


COTTON    PLANT.  45 

days — about  twelve  generally — the  tiny  plants 
make  their  appearance.  Two  or  three  days  after, 
another  leaf  is  seen,  and  it  may  be  said  that  the 
real  and  anxious  work  of  the  cultivator  now  be- 
gins. In  the  Carolina  districts  this  will  happen 
about  the  end  of  April.  The  planting  in  the 
more  southern  States  will  take  place  earlier. 
What  has  next  to  be  done  is  very  particular  work, 
viz.,  cutting  down  and  thinning  the  plants,  which, 
if  allowed  to  grow,  would  simply  choke  one  an- 
other. Here  and  there  at  suitable  distances, 
groups  of  plants  in  the  same  row  are  selected  as 
"stands"  or  groups  of  plants  from  which  w^ll  be 
selected  the  best  plant,  which  is  allowed  to  go 
forward  in  its  growth ;  all  the  rest  being  chopped 
out  or  weeded  out. 

Banking  up  or  bedding  up  is  the  next  process, 
and  this  is  done  running  the  plough  in  the  spaces 
between  the  ridges  or  practically  over  the  old  cot- 
ton  bed  of  the  preceding  season.  This  will  im- 
prove the  ventilating  power  of  the  bed  consid- 
erably and  prevent  somewhat  the  logging  of  the 
soil,  which  is  extremely  undesirable.  The  plough 
is  immediately  followed  by  the  field  labourers, 
whose  work  is  now  to  draw  the  loose  soil  round 
the  Cotton  plants.  This  last  process  of  "  haul- 
ing "  completes  the  labourers'  work  for  a  time, 
and  is  done  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  the  plant 
erect  and  preventing  it  from  falling  down.  This 
hauling  process  is  repeated  until  July,  when  only 
one  plant  is  left  out  of  the  five  or  six  which  were 
planted  originally.  After  four  haulings,  which 
are  completed  as  a  rule  by  the  end  of  July,  the 
productive  processes  may  be  said  to  be  completed. 
If  the  weather  has  been  favourable  and  the  soil 
kept  fairly  moist,  a  good  crop  may  be  fully  antici- 


46  THE   STORY   OF  THE 

pated.  What  the  planters  like  to  see  during  the 
growing  period  is  a  summer  in  which  the  sun 
shines  every  day,  accompanied  by  those  frequent 
and  gentle  showers  which  clean  the  plant  and 
give  the  necessary  humidity  to  the  atmosphere 
and  soil.  Two  things  are  dreaded  by  the  planter 
— excessive  heats  and  abnormal  showers.  The 
bloom  appears  about  the  middle  of  June  and  a 
couple  of  months  after  this  the  plants  are  ready 
for  picking.  This  operation  usually  is  carried  on 
from  the  beginning  of  September  or  end  of  Au- 
gust right  on  into  November,  sometimes  through 
this  month  into  December.  Here  are  given  a  few 
particulars  which  have  been  collected  by  Shepper- 
son  bearing  on  this  particular  subject. 


STATES. 

Usual 
date  to 
begin 
Prepar- 
ing the 
Land. 

Usualdate 
to  begin 
Planting. 

Usual 
date  to 
finish 
Plant- 
ing. 

Usual  date  to 
begin  Picking. 

Usual 
date  to 
finish 
Picking. 

N.  Carolina  
S.  Carolina  
Georgia 

Feb.  25 
Mar.  5 
Feb    i 

Apri    15 
Apri   15  . 
Apri   TO 

May  10 
May  7 
May 

Sep.  i 
Aug.  15  to  Sep.  i 
Aug  15  to  20 

Dec.  10 
Dec.  i 
Dec   i 

Florida  

Jan.  20 

Apri   i 

May 

Aug.  10 

Dec.  i 

Alabama  

Feb 

Apri  5 

May    o 

Aug   10  to  20 

Dec    15 

Mississippi  
Louisiana  
Texas  
Arkansas  
Tennessee  

Feb. 
Feb. 

ia"-    5 
Feb.    5 
Mar. 

Apri   5 
Apri   i 
March  15 
Apri   15 
Apri   15 

May    o 
May    o 
May    o 
May    5 
May    5 

Aug.  10  to  20 
Aug.  i  to  15 
Aug.  i 
Aug.  15  to  20 
Sep   i  to  10 

Dec.  15 
Dec.  15 
Dec.  20 
Jan.  15 
Jan.  15 

Other  Cotton-producing  Countries  in  America. — 

In  addition  to  the  States,  which  have  already 
been  named,  there  are  other  cotton-producing 
countries  in  the  Western  Hemisphere,  among 
which  are  the  following: — 


Brazil.  Mexico. 

West  Indies.      Peru  and  the  South  Sea  Islands. 


COTTON   PLANT.  47 

Cultivation  of  Cotton  in  Brazil. — From  a  very 
remote  period,  cotton  has  been  cultivated  in  Bra- 
zil. Early  in  the  sixteenth  century  historians 
refer  to  the  uses  to  which  cfbtton  was  put  to  at 
that  time.  Seguro,  in  his  work,  describing  the 
customs  of  the  ancient  people  who  lived  in  the 
Amazon  valleys,  says  that  the  arrows  used  in 
connection  with  their  blowguns  were  covered 
with  cotton.  It  is  probable  that,  before  the  dawn 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  cultivation  of  cot- 
ton was  practised  more  or  less  throughout  the 
country.  Up  to  thirty  years  ago,  it  looked  as 
though  the  cotton-growing  industry  in  Brazil  was 
likely  to  be  an  increasing  and  profitable  business. 
Owing,  however,  to  many  causes,  the  trade  has 
not  grown  as  was  to  have  been  expected. 

Among  the  chief  of  these  causes  are : — 

1.  Laxity  of  method  in  cultivating. 

2.  Poor  means  of  transmission. 

3.  Severe  competition  by  the  United  States. 

4.  Disturbed  condition  of  the  country. 

All  these  have  helped  to  keep  down  an  indus- 
try which  at  one  time  bade  fair  to  be  a  source  of 
great  income  to  the  country. 

Tree  Cotton  and  Herbaceous  Cotton  are  both 
cultivated  in  Brazil.  The  best  kinds  of  Sea 
Islands  have  been  tried,  but  have  not  succeeded. 

Compared  with  the  United  States,  the  methods 
of  cultivation  pursued  in  Brazil  are  exceedingly 
primitive  and  irregular.'  No  such  thing  as  plough- 
ing or  preparing  of  the  soil  is  adopted. 

The  only  preparation  seems  to  be  to  rid  the 
land  of  cotton  stumps,  and  this  is  done  in  a  some- 
what careless  and  indifferent  manner.  It  would 
seem  that  as  little  labour  as  possible  is  expended 


48  THE  STORY   OF  THE 

upon  the  land  in  preparing  it  for  the  reception 
of  seed.  Hilaire's  aphorism — u  Nothing  in  this 
country  is  less  expensive,  or  more  productive, 
than  cotton  culture"  —would  seem,  when  the 
facts  of  the  whole  case  are  known,  to  be  perfectly 
warranted  so  far  as  Brazil  is  concerned.  Certain- 
ly, from  a  climatic  point  of  view,  this  country  is 
exceptionally  well  favoured,  an  equable  and  suit- 
able temperature  together  with  an  adequate  sup. 
ply  of  earth  and  air,  moisture  and  rich  alluvial 
soils,  a  long  dry  season  for  picking  extending 
over  many  weeks — all  point  to  an  ideal  cotton- 
growing  area.  In  fact,  there  is  no  reason  why  a 
crop  of  at  least  40,000,000  bales  should  not  be 
obtained  annually  in  Brazil,  if  needed.  At  pres- 
ent, only  about  one  three-hundredth  part  of  this 
is  grown.  The  cotton-growing  centres  are  Minas 
Geraes,  Bahia,  Fernando  de  Noronha,  Rio  Ja- 
neiro, Sao  Paulo. 

Cotton  Cultivation  in  Mexico. — The  cultivation 
of  cotton  has  for  many  centuries  been  carried  on 
in  Mexico.  Much  the  same  drawbacks  exist  here 
as  in  Brazil,  viz.,  lack  of  labour,  poor  railway  sys- 
tem, high  rates  for  transmission,  and  indifferent 
methods  employed  in  cultivating. 

Mexico  enjoys  a  splendid  geographical  posi- 
tion and  would  prove,  if  the  business-like  habits 
and  methods  obtained  as  in  case  of  the  States,  one 
of  the  most  serious  competitors  of  its  adjacent 
Northern  neighbour. 

The  best  cotton  is  produced  in  the  State  of 
Guerrero  on  the  Eastern  side,  though  the  greater 
part — about  one  half  —  of  the  Mexican  crop  is 
grown  in  Laguna  district,  which  lies  in  the  Coa- 
huila  country.  There  are  three  distinct  areas  of 


COTTON    PLANT.  49 

production  in  Mexico,  viz.,  along  the  Eastern 
coast,  along  the  Western  coast,  and  on  the  Cen- 
tral tableland.  In  the  Western  area  irrigation  is 
resorted  to. 

In  the  year  1892,  25,000,000  pounds  of  cotton 
were  grown,  though  all  or  nearly  all  of  it  was 
used  at  home.  Within  the  last  twenty  years 
many  mills  have  been  erected  in  this  country,  and 
this  will  account  for  the  large  quantity  of  cotton 
consumed  at  home.  The  poorest  Mexican  cotton 
is  produced  in  Chiapas,  and  Acaptilco  is  the  chief 
Mexican  cotton  port  on  the  Eastern  coast  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Grande  del  Norte  River. 

Cotton-growing  in  Peru. — It  would  be  a  diffi- 
cult matter  to  fix  a  time  when  cotton  was  first 
grown  in  Peru.  Pizarro,  who  conquered  this 
country  early  in  the  sixteenth  century,  found 
that  the  natives  were  fully  engaged  in  the  grow- 
ing and  spinning  of  cotton.  Dr.  Dabney,  Assist- 
ant Secretary  of  the  U.S.A.  Agricultural  Depart- 
ment, states  that  he  has  seen  a  cloth  made  of 
cotton  recently  takeft  from  one  of  the  Peruvian 
mummies  which  must  be  many,  many  centuries 
old.  There  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  the 
Cotton  plant  is  indigenous  to  Peru. 

Thirty-five  years  ago  Liverpool  received  no 
less  than  300,000  pounds  weight  of  cotton  from 
Peru,  and  three  years  later  over  4,000,000  pounds. 
Since  the  opening  of  the  present  decade  it  has  ex- 
ceeded 6,000,000  pounds  to  England  alone.  Two 
kinds  of  Peruvian  cotton  are  grown — smooth  and 
rough.  This  latter  is  a  rough,  strong  fibre,  and 
is  exceptionally  well  adapted  for  mixing  with 
wool  in  the  manufacture  of  hosiery,  and  a  greater 
part  of  this  cotton  coming  in  England  is  used  in 
4 


50  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

the  hosiery  trade.  The  plant  from  which  it  is 
produced  is  a  perennial,  and  for  six  or  seven 
years  is  said  to  give  two  crops  a  year.  Owing  to 
the  peculiarly  favourable  climate  of  Peru  and  the 
suitability  of  the  soil,  it  is  exceedingly  improbable 
that  any  strong  competitor  will  come  to  divert 
the  Peruvian  trade,  so  that  for  some  time  yet  we 
may  look  to  this  country  supplying  the  hosiery 
trade  with  rough  Peruvian  cotton.  The  importa- 
tions of  Peruvian  cotton  into  the  United  States 
for  1894-95  were  24,000  bales ;  for  1895-96,  24,603 
bales;  for  1896-97,  16,604  bales. 

The  Cultivation  of  Cotton  in  India. — There  are 
other  Asiatic  cotton  fields  besides  those  of  India, 
viz.,  China,  Corea,  Japan,  the  Levant,  and  Russia 
in  Asia.  The  term  "  India "  will  be  used  in  a 
somewhat  restricted  sense  in  this  section,  and  will 
cover  only  that  huge  triangular- shaped  penin- 
sula lying  to  the  south  of  Thibet  in  Asia.  It  is 
1800  miles  in  width  and  nearly  2000  miles  in 
length.  The  total  area,  not  including  Assam  and 
Burmah,  is  about  1,300,000  Square  miles,  the  na- 
tive states  alone  covering  595,000  square  miles. 

Out  of  the  28°  of  North  Latitude  through 
which  India  stretches,  no  less  than  15  J°  are  in  the 
tropics,  the  remainder  being  in  the  Temperate 
Zone.  The  climate,  owing  to  a  number  of  cir- 
cumstances, such  as  different  altitudes  and  uneven 
distribution  of  moisture,  is  exceedingly  varied. 

During  the  months  April  to  September  the  sun, 
during  the  day  or  some  part  of  it,  is  overhead. 
Consequently  the  heat  received  will  be  greater 
than  over  the  ocean  at  the  south,  taking  a  similar 
area.  A  direct  cause  of  this  is  the  starting  of 
winds  which  receive  the  name  of  monsoons.  ^These 


COTTON   PLANT.  51 

blow  from  the  S.W.,  and  bring  vast  quantities  of 
moisture  with  them.  This  moisture -laden  wind 
is  partially  robbed  of  its  load  as  it  strikes  the 
Western  Ghats  and  consequently  much  moisture 
is  deposited  here,  giving  rise  to  many  valuable 
rivers  which  water  the  Deccan  or  Central  Table- 
land of  India.  The  Mahanuddy,  Godavari,  Krist- 
na,  and  Kauvari  are  rivers  fed  by  the  S.W.  mon- 
soon. Then,  again,  the  low-lying  lands  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Indus,  the  great  desert  of  Rajputana, 
the  peninsula  of  Gujerat  and  the  district  of  Mal- 
wa — all  allow,  by  reason  of  their  low-lying  nature, 
the  S.W.  winds  to  pass  over  them  laden  as  they 
are  with  vast  quantities  of  moisture.  They  travel 
on  till  they  meet  the  Himalayas,  where  again  they 
help  to  swell  the  volume  of  the  waters  in  the  riv- 
ers Ganges  and  Indus.  When  the  N.E.  monsoons 
blow  they  do  not  carry  anything  like  the  amount 
of  moisture  which  the  S.W.  monsoons  do,  as  their 
areas  of  collection  are  very  much  more  limited. 
Consequently  this  part  of  the  year  is  usually  a 
dry  one  (viz.,  from  October  to  March). 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  great  plain  of  South- 
ern India  is  much  less  watered  than  th-e  more  North- 
erly portions  and  consequently  is  much  less  fer- 
tile. This  fact  must  be  borne  in  mind  as  the 
cotton-growing  areas  are  described  and  indicated. 

India,  which  grows  more  cotton  than  any  other 
country  in  the  world  (the  States  excepted),  may 
be  said  to  possess  four  distinct  areas  for  the  pro- 
duction of  commercial  cotton.  They  are — 

1.  Central  Tableland  or  Deccan. 

2.  Valley  of  the  Ganges. 

3.  Western  India. 

4.  Southern  India. 


52  THE   STORY   OF   THE 

and  the  above  order  shows  them  also  according 
to  their  commercial  importance. 

Central  District. — This  is  a  vast  plateau  bounded 
on  the  north  by  the  Vindhya  mountains,  on  the 
east  and  west  by  the  Ghats  of  those  names,  and 
on  the  south  by  the  River  Krishna.  As  is  to  be 
expected,  the  collecting  and  exporting  of  the  cot- 
tons grown  in  this  district  are  done  at  Bombay. 
The  finest  cottons  grown  in  India  are  produed  in 
this  region. 

Four  centres  stand  out  prominently  in  the 
production  of  cotton,  viz.,  Dharwar,  Hyderabad, 
Nagpore  and  Berar.  The  soils  generally  in  the 
Deccan  are  very  rich  and  capable  of  retaining 
moisture  during  the  growing  term  of  the  plant's 
life.  What  are  known  as  the  black  soils  of  India 
'  are  to  be  found  plentifully  in  this  district,  and 
these  are  exceedingly  rich  in  mineral  matter. 
Nagpore  should  specially  be  named,  as  it  is  in 
this  province  that  the  finest  cottons  grown  in  all 
India  are  produced,  viz. : — 

"Hingunghat  Cotton." 

"  Oomrawattee  Cotton"  is  the  name  given  to 
a  special  kind  which  is  produced  in  the  province 
of  Berar.  It  is  sometimes  called  "Oomras."  This 
district  lies  in  the  "  Nizam's  Dominions  "  and  is 
watered  by  several  tributaries  of  the  Tapti  and 
Godivari.  It  possesses  a  soil  which  for  richness 
and  fertility  has  no  equal  in  India. 

With  the  exception  of  Bengal,  this  district  is 
more  plentifully  supplied  with  rivers  than  any 
other  part  of  India. 

The  Dharwar  district  is  noted  for  its  cottons, 
for  two  or  three  reasons.  It  was  in  this  region 


COTTON   PLANT. 


S3 


54  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

that  in  1842  New  Orleans  cotton  was  planted  with 
a  view  to  its  ultimately  being  cultivated  here. 
As  the  climate  and  soil  are  very  similar  to  some 
of  the  districts  in  the  Mississippi  valley,  it  suc- 
ceeded beyond  anticipation.  Dharwar  lies  S.  W. 
of  the  province  of  Hyderabad  near  the  sea,  and 
almost  touches  15°  N.  Latitude. 

The  Valley  of  the  Ganges  District  cannot  be  said 
to  grow  very  good  cotton,  though  it  was  in  this 
region,  at  Dacca,  that  in  former  days  the  cotton 
which  was  afterward  made  into  the  celebrated 
Dacca  muslin  was  grown. 

By  far  the  greater  part  of  the  fibre  produced 
in  this  district  comes  from  two  centres:  (i) 
Bundelkhand,  which  lies  79°  E.  Long.,  and  25° 
N.  Latitude  (this  is  very  near  to  Allahabad),  and 
(2)  Doab.  As  was  pointed  out  in  describing  the 
monsoons,  these  two  centres  suffer  by  reason  of 
droughts,  owing  mainly  to  their  geographical 
position.  They  are  subject  also  to  severe  floods, 
which  are  certainly  against  successful  cultivation 
of  cotton.  The  entire  crop  of  the  North  West 
Provinces  may  be  said  to  come  from  the  districts 
of  Doab  and  Bundelkhand. 

Western  India  District.— The  three  centres  for 
the  production  of  cotton  in  the  west,  may  be  said 
to  be  Peninsula  of  Guzerat,  the  Island  of  Cutch 
and  the  Delta  district  of  the  Indus  named  Sind. 
The  whole  of  these  provinces  lies  in  what  may  be 
called  a  dry  area,  missing,  as  was  shown,  much  of 
the  S.  W.  monsoon,  which  ultimately  finds  its  way 
across  country  to  the  Himalayas.  Consequently 
there  will  be  little  rainfall  in  this  area,  Sind  and 
Cutch  not  more  than  10  inches,  some  parts  of 
Guzerat  having  much  more. 


COTTON   PLANT.  55 

This  has  a  very  serious  effect  upon  the  quality 
of  the  cotton  produced. 

The  Surat,  Broach  and  Sind  Cottons,  all  poor 
types,  are  all  grown  in  this  part  of  India. 

Southern  India  District. — This  lies  in  the  south- 
ern part  of  the  Residency  of  Madras,  and  east  of 
the  province  of  Travancore.  The  Nilgiris  and 
Shevaroy  Hills  are  found  here,  as  are  also  the 
Cauvery  and  Vaigai  Rivers.  The  cotton  dis- 
tricts best  known  are  Coimbatore  and  Tinnevel- 
ley,  both  of  which  are  admirably  situated  and 
well  watered.  The  Calicut  of  fame  which  gave 
rise  to  the  name  Calico  is  also  in  this  district. 
Tinnevelley  lies  almost  at  the  extreme  south  of 
India  on  the  Gulf  of  Manaar  opposite  to  Island 
of  Ceylon.  Its  cotton  is  well  known,  but  is  of  a 
poor  type.  As  far  back  as  1847,  experiments  car- 
ried out  under  the  superintendence  of  Dr.  Wright 
proved  that  this  district  was  very  suitable  for  the 
cultivation  of  American  cotton.  A  fact  interesting 
as  well  as  instructive  is  given  by  him  to  the  effect 
that  in  the  southern  part  of  India  the  crops  uni- 
versally failed  where  grown  from  the  native  seed, 
while  those  grown  from  American  seed  realised 
very  fair  amounts — better  even  than  were  obtained 
when  good  crops  were  got  after  using  Indian  seed. 

The  methods  of  preparing,  planting,  and  culti- 
vating the  Indian  Plants  are  exceedingly  an- 
tiquated. In  but  few  districts  are  anything  like 
modern  methods  practised.  Advantage  however 
is  taken  of  the  period  just  preceding  the  rain 
monsoon  and  this  differs  a  little  according  to  the 
district.  Thus  in  Bengal,  Berar,  and  Broach. 
May  and  June  are  usually  taken  for  scantily  pre- 


THE  STORY  OF  THE 


paring  the  land,  and  in  Madras  and  Dharwar, 
August  and  September.  This  consists  of  turning 
over  the  soil  and  burying  the  old  Cotton  plants 
of  the  previous  season  which  have  been  allowed 
to  rot.  As  no  fertilisers  are  used,  these  roots 
and  branches  at  best  make  a  very  poor  substi- 
tute. Ploughing,  hoeing  and  other  agricultural 
operations  are  of  the  rudest  types  and  oxen  are 
used  for  almost  everything  in  the  way  of  heavy 
labour.  Farm  implements,  gearing  carts,  etc.,  are 
all  of  a  style  and  differ  very  little  from  those  used 
centuries  ago.  The  seeds  are  sown  broadcast, 
and  almost  everything  is  done  by  hand. 

The  plantations  as  a  rule  are  much  smaller 
than  those  in  America,  running  from  5  to  30 
acres.  On  the  larger  plantations  the  cotton  is 
cultivated  mainly  by  paid  labourers. 

The  following  table,  by  Shepperson,  shows  the 
acreage  devoted  to  cotton  of  the  different  states 
in  India : — 


Bombay  and  Sind      .    . 

Punjaub 

N.  W.  Provinces    . 

Bengal  .... 

Rajputana     . 

Central  India 

Berar     .         .         . 

Central  Provinces 

Hyderabad  (Nizam's)   . 

Madras .... 

Mysore 

Assam 

Burmah  (Lower) 

Burmah  (Upper) 

Ajmere  and  Meywara  . 


5,021,000  acres. 

1,177,000 

1,424,000 

153,000 

549,000 

503,000 
2,307,000 

616,000 
2,308,000 
1,655,000 

230,000 
40,000 


COTTON   PLANT.  57 

Bombay,  Kurrachee,  Calcutta,  Madras,  Tuti- 
corin  and  Cocanada  are  the  chief  Indian  cotton 
ports. 

Cotton-growing  in  Russia  in  Asia. — Lying  im- 
mediately north  of  Persia  and  Afghanistan  and 
south  of  Khirghiz  Steppes  lies  an  immense  area 
much  of  which  is  now  being  cultivated  and  most 
of  it  very  fit  for  the  production  of  cotton.  The 
Sea  of  Ural  has  running  into  it  two  very  large 
rivers,  Amu  Daria  and  the  Syr  Daria,  and  it  is  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  these  two  rivers  where  we 
find  by  far  the  greatest  weight  of  cotton  of  Tur- 
kestan produced. 

There  are  four  important  areas,  viz.,  Syr 
Daria,  the  centre  of  which  is  Tashkend  ;  Fergana, 
which  lies  between  Samarcand  and  Bokhara  ;  the 
district  of  Samarcand  itself;  and  Merv,  which 
stands  on  the  Overland  Railway.  It  appears  that 
many  attempts  were  made  to  introduce  cottons  of 
various  types  into  this  locality,  but  most  of  the 
delicate  species  failed.  The  Upland  of  America, 
however,  survived,  and  has  continued  to  succeed, 
thanks  to  the  valuable  help  which  the  Govern- 
ment gave  in  the  way  of  instruction  and  distribu- 
tion of  free  seed. 

The  first  Government  cotton  plantation  was 
commenced  at  Tashkend,  one  of  the  termini  of 
the  Transcaspian  Railway.  Eight  years  ago  there 
were  upwards  of  a  quarter  of  a  million  acres  de- 
voted to  cotton  cultivation. 

During  the  American  War  (that  period  which 
quickened  all  the  cotton-growing  centres  of  the 
Eastern  Hemisphere)  the  production  of  fibre  may 
be  said  to  have  commenced  in  earnest  in  Turkes- 
tan, and  so  late  ago  as  1890  no  less  than  forty- 

A  f? 


58  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

five  and  a  half  million  pounds  of  good  fibre  were 
grown.  Tashkend,  it  would  appear,  promises  to 
hold  its  own,  as  it  is  determined  to  practise  the 
best  and  most  scientific  methods  in  the  growth  of 
cotton ;  in  fact,  in  very  few  centres  outside  this 
district,  old  and  out  of  date  operations  are  fol- 
lowed. Even  in  the  districts  of  Fergana  and  Sa- 
marcand,  the  old  wooden  plough  called  a  "  sokha  " 
is  still  in  use. 

Seed,  as  in  the  case  of  India,  is  mostly  sown 
broadcast,  and  very  little  preparing  of  the  land 
is  done.  Yet,  in  spite  of  these  deficiencies,  good 
crops  are  raised  in  many  districts,  capital  soil  and 
a  most  equable  climate  making  up  for  the  short- 
comings of  the  planter.  The  formation  of  the 
Transcaspian  Railway  cannot  but  have  an  impor- 
tant influence  upon  the  cotton-growing  industry 
in  Turkestan,  running  as  it  does  through  the  very 
heart  of  the  best  land  in  the  country.  It  should 
be  noted  that  Bohkara  annually  produces  over 
50,000,000  pounds  of  cotton  of  the  herbaceous 
type,  and  Khiva,  another  district  lying  still  further 
east  of  those  already  mentioned,  over  20,000,000 
pounds. 

Lying  between  the  Caspian  Sea  and  Black  Sea, 
lies  another  district  named  Transcaucasia,  which 
yields  large  supplies  of  cotton.  It  has  100,000 
acres  devoted  to  cotton,  giving  over  20,000,000 
pounds  per  annum.  North  of  Kokan,  on  the  river 
Syr  Daria,  is  a  rising  cotton  district  named  Kho- 
jend, where  annually  3,000,000  pounds  of  cotton 
of  the  American  type  are  raised. 

When  we  consider  that  the  quantity  of  cotton 
carried  by  the  Transcaspian  Railway  since  1888 
has  more  than  quadrupled,  and  that  in  ten  years 
the  quantity  shipped  has  been  increased  from 


COTTON   PLANT.  59 

quarter  of  a  million  pounds  to  over  72,000,000 
pounds,  we  can  quite  appreciate  the  significance 
of  the  statement  that  before  long  Russia  will  be 
able  to  grow  all  her  own  cotton  for  the  medium 
and  lower  numbers  of  yarns. 

Cotton-growing  in  China,  Corea  and  Japan. — 

Japan,  the  land  of  the  chrysanthemum,  for  many 
years  now  has  been  developing  cotton-growing  as 
well  as  cotton  manufacturing.  From  evidence 
which  the  cold  type  of  the  Board  of  Trade  gives, 
Japan  bids  fair  to  largely  increase  her  trade  with 
India  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  present  suppliers. 

Cotton-growing  has  been  practised  for  some 
centuries  in  Japan,  but  it  was  not  until  the  sev- 
enteenth century  that  anything  like  progress 
could  be  reported.  From  that  time  to  the  present 
the  growth  has  been  gradually  on  the  increase. 

Japan  proper  consists  of  the  Islands  of  Niphon, 
Kiusiu,  Shikoku,  Yesso,  and  an  immense  number 
of  smaller  islands.  Cotton  cultivation  is  carried 
on  mainly  on  the  first  three  islands  named,  and 
in  the  following  districts  : — San  Indo,  Wakayama, 
Osaka,  Kuantoebene,  Hitachi  and  Suo. 

Taken  as  a  whole,  the  cotton  grown  in  the  best 
areas  is  good,  though  much  of  an  inferior  kind  is 
produced.  The  most  southerly  area  of  Wakayama 
in  Niphon  yields  the  best  cotton  of  Japan. 

The  length  of  the  fibre  generally  is  much  less 
than  the  herbaceous  kind.  About  10  per  cent, 
of  the  entire  arable  land  is  now  under  cultivation 
for  cotton.  As  a  rule,  methods  and  processes  are 
of  a  primitive  kind. 

Cotton-growing  in  Corea. — Lying  directly  to 
the  west  of  Japan,  this  vast  peninsula  has  of  late 


60  THE   STORY  OF   THE 

years  been  developing  its  cotton-growing.  Five 
centuries  ago  cotton  was  imported  from  China, 
and  one  sees  on  every  hand  the  influence  of 
the  Celestials.  The  cultivated  plant  is  of  the 
perennial  type,  though  it  is  planted-  annually, 
the  old  plants  being  dug  up  and  burned,  the  ash 
being  used  as  a  fertiliser.  Statistics  at  present 
are  not  to  be  relied  upon,  though  it  is  supposed 
that  something  like  three  quarters  of  a  million 
acres  are  now  under  cultivation,  giving  on  the 
average  about  250  pounds  of  cotton  lint.  As  in 
the  case  of  Japan  very  little  of  this  is  exported, 
all  of  it  or  nearly  so  being  spun  and  woven  at 
home  on  the  most  primitive  of  machines. 

The  chief  districts  engaged  in  growing  cotton, 
nearly  all  of  which  lie  in  the  southern  portion  of 
the  peninsula,  are  Hwang-Hi,  Kyeng-Sang,  Chel- 
La,  Kyeng  Kwi,  and  Chung-Cheog. 

Cotton-growing  in  China, — Owing  to  the  great 
difficulty  of  obtaining  any  reliable  statistical  in- 
formation, it  is  impossible  to  give  anything  ap- 
proaching accuracy  as  to  number  of  pounds  of 
cotton  produced  annually,  or  number  of  acres 
devoted  to  the  cultivation  of  the  Cotton  plant. 
This  much,  however,  is  known,  that  for  many 
centuries  cotton  cultivating  has  been  followed 
and  that  there  has  been  within  recent  years  a 
great  increase  in  the  weight  of  the  cotton  crop 
as  well  as  in  the  acreage.  The  type  of  plant 
most  generally  cultivated  is  the  herbaceous,  and 
the  cotton  resulting  is  only  poor  in  quality.  Lit- 
tle or  no  preparation  is  made  before  sowing  seed, 
which  is  generally  done  broadcast.  As  a  result 
there  is  much  overcrowding,  and  as  is  inevitable, 
there  is  produced  a  stubby  plant  with  small  bolls 


COTTON    PLANT.  6 1 

and  much  unripe  cotton.  On  the  terraces  of  the 
hillsides  something  approaching  cultivation  is  pur- 
sued, with  the  result  of  a  better  crop. 

Usually  twenty  weeks  intervene  between  plant- 
ing and  picking,  this  latter  operation  being  mostly 
the  work  of  children  and  women.  The  old  cotton 
stalks  are  afterward  collected  and  dried  for  fuel. 

Very  few  large  plantations  exist  in  China,  most 
of  them  being  only  a  few  acres  in  extent. 

But  little  of  the  cotton  grown  at  home  is  ex- 
ported, most  of  it  being  spun  and  woven  by  wom- 
en, though  some  of  the  fibre  is  sent  to  Japan. 

Cultivation  of  Cotton  in  Egypt. — It  is  now  over 
thirty  years  since  Sir  Samuel  Baker,  the  great 
African  traveller,  wrote  these  words:  "The  Nile 
might  be  so  controlled  that  the  enormous  volume 
of  water  that  now  rushes  uselessly  into  the  Medi- 
terranean might  be  led  through  the  deserts,  to 
transform  them  into  cotton  fields  that  would  ren- 
der England  independent  of  America." 

The  crop  for  the  season  1896-7  was  no  less 
than  1,100,000  bales  of  500  pounds  each.  Ten 
years  ago  only  868,000  acres  were-  devoted  to  cot- 
ton cultivation  as  against  1,350,000  acres  laid 
down  to-day.  Everything,  then,  points  to  Sir 
Samuel  Baker's  statement  becoming  an  actual 
fact  much  sooner  than  the  famous  traveller  him- 
self anticipated. 

Egypt  enjoys  many  advantages  over  her  com- 
petitors across  the  Atlantic.  In  the  first  place, 
she  can  get  almost  twice  as  much  cotton  from  the 
acre,  so  productive  is  the  soil.  Labour  is  cheaper, 
and  the  plant  itself  when  young  is  not  subject 
to  the  devastating  frosts  so  often  met  with  in 
America. 


62  THE  STORY   OF  THE 

Egypt  is  divided  into  three  great  areas  : — Low- 
er Egypt,  which  includes  the  whole  of  the  Delta 
of  the  Nile ;  Upper  Egypt ;  and  Nubia.  It  is  in 
the  first-named  district  where  the  whole  of  Egyp- 
tian cotton  is  produced.  At  the  present  time  im- 
mense sums  are  being  spent  on  irrigation  and 
drainage  works,  and  as  these  are  extended  the 
areas  devoted  to  cotton  production  will  greatly 
increase. 

At  the  present  time  five  distinct  varieties  of 
cotton  are  cultivated — 

Mitafifi.  Bamia. 

Abbasi.  Gallini. 

Ashmouni-Hamouli. 

g 

The  latter  variety  was  originally  known  by  a 
different  name,  Mako  Jumel.  For  a  long  time 
Ashmouni  cotton  was  the  principal  fibre  exported, 
but  Mitafifi  is  now  in  the  front  of  all  the  other 
Egyptian  cottons.  A  noteworthy  fact  in  connec- 
tion with  Ashmouni  is,  that  its  cultivation  is  on 
the  decline. 

Sea  Islands  Gallini — as  it  was  sometimes  called 
— has  practically  ceased  to  be  cultivated.  Of 
Mitafifi  and  Bamia  fibres,  Mr.  Handy,  U.  S.  A., 
says :  "  The  Mitafifi  was  discovered  by  a  Greek 
merchant  in  the  village  of  that  name.  The  seed 
has  a  bluish  tuft  at  the  extremity,  which  attracted 
the  merchant's  attention,  and  on  planting  it  he 
fourid  that  it  possessed  decided  advantage  over 
the  old  Ashmouni.  It  is  more  hardy,  and  yields 
a  greater  proportion  of  lint  to  the  seed.  At  first 
from  315  pounds  of  seed  cotton,  112  pounds  of 
lint  was  secured,  and  sometimes  even  more.  It 
is  now  somewhat  deteriorated,  and  rarely  yields 


COTTON    PLANT.  63 

so  much,  averaging  about  106  pounds  of  lint  to 
315  of  seed  cotton.  The  Mitafifi  is  a  richer  and 
darker  brown  than  the  Ashmouni.  The  fibre  is 
long,  very  strong,  and  fine  to  the  touch,  and  is 
in  great  demand.  In  fact,  it  controls  the  market. 
"  Next  to  Mitafifi,  Bamia  is  perhaps  the  most 
extensively  cultivated  variety  in  Lower  Egypt. 
It  was  discovered  by  a  Copt  in  1873.  Tne  plant 
is  of  large  size  and  course  growth.  It  is  later  and 
less  hardy  than  Mitafifi,  and  the  fibre  is  poor  as 
compared  with  that  of  Mitafifi  and  Abbasi,  light 
and  brown  in  colour,  and  not  very  strong.  In 
general,  it  may  be  said  that  this  variety  is  inferior 
to  Mitafifi  in  yield,  hardiness  and  length  and 
strength  of  fibre." 

Other    places    where    Cotton    is    grown. — In 

Africa,  on  the  eastern  and  western  coasts,  large 
qnantities  of  cotton  are  produced.  The  follow- 
ing countries  are  specially  suitable  to  the  growth 
of  cotton  :  Soudan,  Senegambia,  Congo  River, 
Free  States,  and  Liberia.  Possibly,  when  these 
districts  are  more  opened  up  to  outside-  trade, 
and  European  capital  and  labour  are  expended, 
abundant  supplies  of  cotton  fibre  will  be  given. 

Cotton  is  also  grown  in  the  East  Indies,  at 
Java,  Sumatra,  and  Malay  States. 

In  the  West  Indies  formerly,  large  supplies 
were  yielded,  but  owing  to  the  cultivation  of 
other  crops  that  of  cotton  has  steadily  declined. 

Greece  and  Turkey  both  yield  cotton  which 
goes  by  the  name  of  Levant  Cotton. 


64  THE  STORY  OF  THE 

CHAPTER   IV. 

THE    MICROSCOPE    AND    COTTON    FIBRE. 

THIS  story  would  be  very  incomplete  if  some 
reference  were  not  made  to  the  wonderful  assist- 
ance which  has  been  given  to  the  study  of  cotton 
fibre  by  the  microscope.  As  seen  by  its  help, 
some  striking  peculiarities  at  once  make  them- 
selves apparent.  It  is  proposed,  briefly,  in  this 
chapter,  to  do  three  things  : 

1.  To  describe  the  construction  of  a  suitable 

instrument  sufficient  for   a  complete    ex- 
amination of  fibres  in  general. 

2.  To  indicate  the  chief  microscopic  features 

of  cotton  fibres. 

3.  To    show    how    to    exactly    measure    the 

lengths  and  diameters  of  fibres  by  means 
of  micrometers. 

First,  as  to  the  instrument :  a  good  substantial 
stand  is  desirable,  one  that  will  not  readily  vibrate. 
The  microscope  shown  in  Fig.  6  is  a  cheap  and 
commendable  form,  and  good  work  can  be  done 
by  this  instrument,  which  is  made  by  Ross,  London. 
The  stand  carries  the  body-tube,  and  at  the  lower 
end  is  placed  the  objective,  so  called,  because  the 
image  of  the  object  (which  rests  upon  the  stage 
as  shown)  under  examination  is  first  focussed  by 
it  and  conveyed  along  the  body-tube. 

The  top  end  of  the  said  tube  contains  the  eye- 
piece, so  named  because  by  its  aid  the  eye  is 
allowed  to  receive  the  image  duly  focussed  and 
enlarged. 


COTTON   PLANT.  65 

As  a  rule,  beginners  work  with  one  objective 
only,  generally  a  one  inch. 

A  much  higher  power  than  this  is  necessary  if 
the  fibre  in  question  is  to  be  seen  at  its  best,  and 


FIG.  6. — Microscope  in  position  for  drawing  objects. 

for  the  purpose  of  this  chapter  a  quarter  inch 
objective  will  be  used. 

Underneath  the  stage,  which  is  pierced  by  a 
circular  aperture,  is  a  diaphragm.  This  regulates 
the  quantity  of  light  which  is  to  be  transmitted 
by  means  of  the  silvered  reflector  shown  in  the 
illustration. 

As  a  rule,  two  reflectors  are  fixed  in  the  same 
holder  ;  one  a  concave  mirror,  the  other  a  plane 
one.  The  former  brings  the  rays  of  light  to  a 
point  or  focus  while  the  latter  simply  passes  the 
beam  of  light  along  just  as  it  received  it,  viz.,  as 
a  parallel  beam  of  light. 

In  examining  fibres  the  concave  mirror  will  be 
of  most  use.  An  ordinary  lamp  is  usually  good 
enough  for  the  light  required,  the  one  figured  be- 
ing very  suitable  and  having  a  tube-like  arrange- 
ment of  wick.  Behind  the  body-tube  are  two 
forms  of  adjustment,  coarse  and  fine.  The  latter 
5 


66  THE  STOREY  OF  THE 

is  worked  by  means  of  the  milled  screw,  conical 
in  shape,  which  is  found  immediately  behind  the 
coarse  adjustment.  The  operator  is  supposed  to 
have  had  some  slight  experience  in  the  manipula- 
tion of  the  microscope.  The  slide  is  now  placed 
upon  the  stage.  Fine  Sea  Islands  cotton  is 
mounted  in  Canada  Balsam  and  protected  by  a 
small  circular  cover  glass.  . 

Now  rack  down  the  body-tube  by  means  of 
the  coarse  adjustment  until  within  -^  of  an  inch 
of  the  cover-glass  of  the  slide.  Now  see  that  the 
light  from  the  lamp  is  fully  on  the  cotton  strands. 
Rack  up  or  down,  as  the  case  may  be,  with  the 
fine  adjustment,  and  a  wonderful  sight  meets  the 
eye,  for  the  cotton  viewed  through  the  micro- 
scope is  altogether  unlike  what  we  should  expect 
it  to  be. 

Running  completely  across  the  field  are  a 
number  of  strands,  varying  in  thickness,  form 
and  natural  twist.  What  is  meant  by  natural 
twist  is  very  clearly  shown  in  Fig.  7. 

Most  people  have  seen  india-rubber  tubing  or 
piping  such  as  is  used  in  the  chemical  laboratory 
or  that  often  found  attached  to  feeding  bottles. 
Take  about  a  foot  of  this  and  hold  one  end  firm- 
ly. Abstract  the  air  by  means  of  the  mouth,  and 
it  will  be  found  that  immediately  the  air  is  taken 
out  the  tube  collapses.  Now  if  the  rubber  be 
variable  in  thickness,  here  and  there  along  these 
lines  of  least  resistance  will  be  found  certain 
twists,  and  it  is  the  same  kind  of  twists  which  can 
be  so  distinctly  seen  as  the  cotton  fibre  is  viewed 
through  the  microscope.  They  are  exceedingly 
irregular  in  number,  on  equal  lengths  of  the  same 
single  fibre.  When  they  run  for  some  length,  and 
are  fairly  regular,  the  edges  appear  like  wavy 


COTTON   PLANT.  67 

lines  or  corrugations.  It  will  now  be  seen  by  the 
reader  why  these  twists  are  so  invaluable  in  spin- 
ning :  locking  and  intertwining  with  each  other, 
they  materially  assist  the  spinner  in  building  up 
a  long  and  continuous.thread. 

Then,  too,  are  to  be  seen  lying  close  to  the 
regularly  twisted  fibres  a  number  of  others  which 


FIG.  7. — Transverse  and  longitudinal  sections  of  cotton  fibre. 

are  very  like  ribbons,  with  here  and  there  an 
apology  for  a  twist,  and  further,  a  careful  scrutiny 
will  be  rewarded  by  finding  in  what  is  reputedly 
the  best  cotton  a  number  of  filaments  which  do 
not  display  any  twists  whatever  and  are  very 
much  like  'the  round  tubing  referred  to  a  little 
while  ago.  Others  again  are  quite  flat,  without 
any  distinguishing  twists  whatever.  These  are 
said  to  be  the  half-ripe  and  unripe  fibres,  and 
give  much  trouble  later  on  (if  worked  up  with 
good  cotton)  to  the  dyer  and  spinner. 

As  the  slide  containing  the  cotton  is  moved 
laterally,  it  will  be  seen  that  this  twisting  of  the 
fibre  is  continued  for  almost  the  whole  length, 
and  as  many  as  300  twists  have  been  counted 


68  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

on  a  single  filament.  In  some,  the  fibre  tapers 
slightly,  becoming  more  and  more  cylindrical  as 
the  end  most  remote  from  the  seed  is  approached, 
until  it  is  quite  solid.  These  stiff  ends  soon  dis- 
appear after  the  cotton  has  been  treated  in  the 
early  processes  of  manufacture.  Thus  there  may 
be  found  in  almost  every  sample  of  cotton  what 
are  called  ripe,  half-ripe  and  unripe  cotton.  The 
last-named  kind  result  from — 

1.  Gathering   the    crop    before    the    boll    is 

properly  ripened  and  matured. 

2.  Bad  seasons;  too  much  moisture  and  too 

little  heat. 

Then  again  in  the  same  boll  all  fibres  do  not 
ripen  together  just  as  all  apples  on  the  same  tree 
do  not  ripen  together. 

Immature  or  unripe  cotton  cannot  be  dyed, 
and  when  small  white  specks  are  seen  in  any  dyed 
fabric  they  are  often  due  to  the  fact  that  unripe 
cotton  has  been  used  in  the  manufacture  of  the 
cloth. 

Measurement  of  the  Cotton  Fibre. — This  is  not 
at  all  a  difficult  matter,  and  the  ordinary  student 
may,  by  means  of  very  simple  and  inexpensive 
apparatus,  obtain  fairly  satisfactory  results  in  the 
measurement  of  fibres. 

There  is  a  choice  of  one  of  three  methods, 
viz. : — 

i.  By  having  the  mechanical  stage  so  ar- 
ranged that  the  slightest  displacement 
either  to  the  left  or  right  can  be  meas- 
ured, and  having  the  eye-piece  so  marked 
(generally  a  hair  stretched  across  it)  that 


COTTON   PLANT.  69 

when  an  object  is  to  be  measured,  one 
side  of  it  is  made  to  coincide  with  this 
central  line  and  the  stage  rack  is  worked 
left  or  right  until  the  opposite  side  of 
the  object  is  brought  coincident  with  the 
central  line  again ;  the  amount  of  dis- 
placement can  then  be  readily  obtained 
on  referring  to  the  graduated  stage. 

2.  By  having  a  stage  micrometer  and  camera 

lucida. 

3.  By  having  two  micrometers,  a  stage  micro- 

meter and  eye-piece  micrometer. 

This  latter  method  is  certainly  the  least  ex- 
pensive, and  for  all  practical  purposes  can  be 
safely  recommended. 

A  stage  micrometer  consists  of  a  slip  of  glass 
3"  x  i"  on  which  are  marked  divisions  of  an  inch, 
usually  y^-ths  and  -j^Vo-ths.  As  a  rule  these 
markings  are  protected  by  means  of  a  small 
cover-glass. 

Eye-piece  micrometers  vary  much  in  form,  size 
and  value,  but  the  one  which  is  here  described  is 
of  the  simplest  type.  It  consists  of  two  circular 
pieces  of  glass  carefully  cemented  together.  On 
one  of  the  inner  surfaces  are  marked  usually  the 
Y^-g-ths  divisions  of  an  inch.  In  some  ^-^-ths  are 
marked.  If  the  top  lense  of  the  eye-piece  be  un- 
screwed, a  diaphragm  will  be  found  on  which  the 
eye-piece  micrometer  will  easily  rest.  Screw  on 
the  top  lense  again  and,  generally,  the  eye-piece 
will  be  ready  for  use.  If  the  micrometer  is  not 
properly  in  focus  after  a  few  trials,  it  may  easily 
be  made  right.  In  order,  then,  to  measure  the 
diameter  of  a  single  fibre  of  Sea  Islands  cotton, 
fit  in  the  quarter  inch  objective  and  place  the 


yo  THE   STORY   OF   THE 

stage  micrometer  in  position  on  the  stage.  First, 
focus  the  fine  lines  which  are  plainly  to  be  seen, 
and  remember  the  lines  which  are  farthest  apart 
are  y-g-g-th  of  an  inch ;  the  others  yoVo^  °f  an 
inch. 

As  a  rule,  these  lines  run  from  N.  to  S.  of  the 
field ;  in  other  words,  from  top  to  bottom  across 
the  circles  of  light.  Now  look  at  the  divisions  in 
the  eye-piece  micrometer,  which  are  y^-oth  of  an 
inch  apart. 

It  will  be  found  often  that  an  exact  number 
of  these  divisions  fill  up  one  of  the  y^-th  divi- 
sions of  the  stage  micrometer  markings.  If  an 
exact  number  are  not  found,  the  draw-tube  at  the 
top  end  of  the  body-tube  should  be  withdrawn 
until  an  exact  number  is  found  to  lie  within  two 
lines  of  the  lower  micrometer. 

Suppose  twenty-two  of  the  spaces  on  the  eye- 
piece micrometer  just  cover  one  of  the  divisions 
(y^-oth  of  an  inch)  on  the  stage  micrometer. 
Then  it  is  clear  that  each  division  of  the  former 
represents  y^-  x  -^  of  an  inch,  or  -g-gVoth  °f  an 
inch.  For  every  fresh  objective  used,  a  fresh 
estimation  of  eye -piece  and  stage  micrometer 
ratio  is  necessary.  Having  now  got  in  the  eye- 
piece micrometer  a  unit  of  measurement,  it  be- 
comes a  comparatively  easy  matter  to  measure 
the  fibre. 

Remove  the  stage-micrometer  and  put  a  slide 
of  Sea  Islands  cotton  in  its  place.  Focus  the 
fibre  and  observe  the  number  of  divisions  or  parts 
of  a  division  covered  by  any  particular  fibre,  and 
its  measurement  is  at  once  known.  Thus  if  a 
single  filament  covers  two  of  the  divisions  then  it 
is  -g-gVoth  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  or  yyVu^h  of  an 
inch.  Exactly  the  same  method  is  adopted  if  it 


COTTON   PLANT.  71 

is  desired  to  measure  the  diameters  of  sections  of 
the  same  fibres. 

The  making  of  the  drawing  of  a  fibre,  either 
transverse  or  horizontal  section,  is  not  at  all  a 
difficult  matter. 

All  that  is  needed  is  what  is  known  as  a  camera 
lucida.  This  consists  of  a  brass  fixing  for  the 
eye-piece  end  of  the  body-tube  and  a  small  re- 
flecting prism.  This  prism  receives  the  imag'e  of 
the  objective,  and  reflects  it  in  this  case  at  right 
angles  downward  on  to  a  sheet  of  paper,  which  is 
placed  beneath  for  the  purpose  of  tracing  the  said 
image. 

Focus  the  object,  first  having  the  microscope 
in  a  horizontal  position.  This  will  not  be  a  diffi- 
cult matter.  Now  remove  the  cap  which  fits  on 
the  eye -piece,  and  fix  on  the  camera  lucida  as 
shown  in  the  illustration  (see  Fig.  6).  Adjust  this 
until  the  image  of  the  fibre  is  seen.  Usually  one 
or  two  smoke-coloured  glasses  are  fixed  below  the 
prism,  and  these  are  now  brought  into  position  so 
as  to  allow  the  image  of  the  fibre  to  pass  through 
them.  Place  a  sheet  of  drawing  paper  directly 
under  the  camera  lucida,  sitting  as  shown  in  the 
illustration.  After  a  few  trials  it  will  not  be  a 
difficult  matter  to  follow  the  outline  of  the  image 
by  means  of  a  black  lead  on  the  paper  as  is 
shown  in  the  figure.  In  this  way  many  useful 
working  drawings  can  be  made,  and  a  little  care- 
ful calculation  will  give  the  amplification  of  the 
drawing  after  it  is  made. 


72  THE   STORY   OF   THE 


CHAPTER  V. 

PLANTATION     LIFE    AND    THE    EARLY    CLEANIN 
PROCESSES. 

AFTER  many  months  of  anxious  watching  ai 
waiting,  towards  the  end  of  July  or  early  in  A 
gust,  the  planter  may  be  seen  to  be  constant 
and  wistfully  looking  for  the  appearance  of  tl 
bursting   bolls   of   cotton.      Daily    in    the    ear. 
mornings  he-ns  to  be  seen  casting  his  eyes  dow 
the  pod-laden  rows  of  Cotton  plants,  to  see  if  h' 
can  count  a  few  ripe  open  bolls  as  he  stands  a 
the  head  of  a  row.     If  this  be  so,  he  knows  tha 
his  harvest  is  close  at  hand,  and  his  pickers  mus 
be  ready  at  any  moment  to  begia  what  is  certain 
ly  the  most  tedious  and  difficult  work  of  the  plan 
tation,  namely,  picking  the  raw  cotton  from  th< 
bursting  bolls. 

While  the  planter  has  been  on  the  lookout  ii 
the  fields,  necessary  and  imp'"  ant  operation 
have  been  going  on  inside  in  the  farm  outbuild 
ings.  Sacks  and  baskets  which  can  most  expedi 
tiously  aid  in  the  removal  of  the  picked  cottoi 
from  the  field  to  the  ginning  factory  are  beinj 
got  ready.  To  suit  the  young  and  old,  tall  an< 
small,  weak  and  strong,  different  sized  bags  am 
baskets  are  required,  and  after  the  marking  an 
branding  of  the  same,  they  are  ready  for  bein. 
put  into  use. 

Now  the  picking  of  cotton  is  not  at  all  a 
easy  operation,  long  continuous  bending,  a  ho 
sun  (for  it  is  a  rule  scarcely  ever  broken  tha 
cotton  must  not  be  plucked  unless  the  sun  i 
shining  upon  it),  a  constantly  increasing  weigh 


COTTON   PLANT.  73 

round  the  neck  or  on  the  arm,  monotonous  pick- 
ing of  the  cotton  from  the  bolls  without  bringing 
away  any  of  the  husk  or  leaf — all  tend  to  make 
the  work  of  the  picker  very  trying  and  tiresome. 
The  plantation  hands  must  be  early  at  work,  and 
while  the  day  is  very  young  they  are  to  be  seen 
wending  their  way,  ready  to  begin  when  the  sun 
makes  its  appearance.  Often  the  clothes  of  the 
workers  are  quite  wet  with  the  early  morning 
dews.  This  is  specially  the  case  in  September 
and  Octobet .  By  ten  o'clock  a  hot  blazing  sun 
streams  dov  n  upon  the  pickers  as  tiiey  diligently 
relieve  the  heavy  laden  bushes  of  the  white  fleecy 
load  of  cotton.  As  each  picker  fills  his  or  her 
bag,  it  is  quickly  emptied  into  a  larger  receptacle, 
and  ultimately  carried  away  to  the  gin  house, 
where  it  is  desirable  the  cotton  should  be  housed 
before  the  night  dews  come  on  and  consequently 
damage  materially  the  cotton  which  the  pickers 
have  been  careful  to  pick  while  the  sun  was 
on  it. 

Mr.  Lyman,  in  his  book  on  the  Cotton  Culture 
in  the  States,  says :  u  It  seems  like  very  easy  work 
to  gather  a  material  which  shows  itself  in  such 
abundance  as  fairly  to  whiten  the  field,  but  let  the 
sceptic  or  the  grumbler  take  a  bag  on  his  shoul- 
ders and  start  in  between  a  couple  of  rows.  He 
will  find  upon  taking  hold  of  the  first  boll  that 
the  fibres  are  quite  firmly  at&c^hed  to  the  interior 
lining  of  the  pod,  and  if  he  makes  a  quick  snatch, 
thinking  to  gather  the  entire  lock,  he^svill  only 
tear  it  in  two,  or  leave  considerable  adhering  to 
the  pod.  And  yet  he  may  notice  that  an  experi- 
enced picker  will  gather  the  cotton  and  lay  his 
fingers  into  the  middle  of  the  open  pod  with  a 
certain  expertness  which  only  practice  gives,  the 


74  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

effect  of  which  is  to  clear  the  whole  pod  with  one 
movement  of  the  hand." 

Knowing  how  intensely  monotonous  and  dreary 
the  work  of  cotton  picking  is,  Mr.  Lyman  advises 
the  planters  to  allow  a  very  fair  amount^of  liberty 
so  far  as  merrymaking  is  concerned,  and  he  says 
on  this  point  that  "though  too  much  talking  and 
singing  must  interfere  with  labour,  it  is  earnestly 
recommended  to  every  cotton  grower  to  take  care 
to  secure  cheerfulness  if  not  hilarity  in  the  field. 
Remember  that  it  is  a  very  severe  strain  upon  the 
patience  and  spirits  of  any  one,  to  be  urged  to 
rapid  labour  of  precisely  the  same  description  day 
by  day,  week  by  week,  month  by  month.  Let 
there  be  refreshments  at  the  baskets,  a  dish  of  hot 
coffee  in  a  cool  morning,  or  a  pail  of  buttermilk 
in  a  hot  afternoon,  or  a  tub  of  sweetened  water,  or 
a  basket  of  apples." 

As  a  rule  the  cotton  gathered  on  one  farm, 
which  has,  generally  speaking,  had  something  like 
uniformity  in  method  of  cultivation,  will  produce 
cotton  varying  very  little  in  quality  and  weight. 

Hence  on  large  farms  there  will  be  something 
like  uniform  quality  of  cotton  produced.  It  will, 
however,  be  clear  to  the  general  reader  that  on 
the  small  farms  of  India,  say  where  sufficient  can- 
not be  gathered  on  one  farm,  or  perhaps  on  a  few 
farms,  to  make  one  bale,  there  will  not  be  that 
uniformity  which  is  desirable,  hence  Indian  cot- 
ton, especially  of  the  poorer  types,  varies  a  great 
deal  more  than  the  American  varieties.  When 
the  hands  have  gathered  sufficient  to  fill  the  carts 
drawn  in  America  usually  by  mules,  and  in  India 
by  oxen,  the  cotton  is  taken  to  houses  in  which 
the  seeds  are  separated  from  the  fibre.  This  pro- 
cess is  called  "ginning." 


COTTON   PLANT. 


75 


It  is  astonishing  to  find  how  tenaciously  the 
ibres  cling  to  the  seed  when  an  attempt  is  made 
o  separate  them.  At  first  much  loss  was  occa- 
•ioned  because  of  the  brutal  methods  employed, 
tnd  now  even  with  very  much  more  perfect  ma- 
chinery a  good  deal  of  the  cotton  fibre  is  injured 
n  the  ginning  process. 


FIG.  8. — Indian  women  with  roller  gin. 

At  present,  most  of  the  cotton  produced  in  va- 
rious parts  of  the  world  is  ginned  by  machinery, 
though  in  India  and  China  foot  gins  and  other 
primitive  types  are  still  employed. 

It  should  be  stated  that  where  a  large  produc- 
tion of  cotton  is  desired  the  foot  gin  or  even  what 
is  known  as  the  "  Churka  gin  "  (which  consists  of  a 
couple  of  rollers  turned  by  hand)  is  never  employed. 
Only  a  few  pounds  a  day  of  cotton  can  be  sepa- 
rated from  the  seeds  when  this  method  is  adopted. 


76  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

The  following  extract  from  a  lecture  by  the 
late  Sir  Benjamin  Dobson  will  be  of  interest  here, 
as  showing  what  is  done  on  an  American  ginnery : 

"  The  farmer  brings  the  cotton  to  the  mill  in 
a  waigon,  with  mules  or  oxen  attached;  the  cot- 
ton is  weighed,  and  then  thrown  out  o?  the  wag- 
gon into  a  hopper  alongside.  From  this  hopper 
it  is  taken  by  an  elevator,  or  lift,  either  pneumatic 
or  mechanical,  and  raised  to  the  third  story  of  the 
ginning  factory.  There  it  is  delivered  into  an- 
other part  of  the  room  until  required.  When  the 
cotton  is  to  be  ginned  it  is  brought  by  rakes  along 
the  floor  to  an  open  sort  of  hopper  or  trunk,  and 
from  here  conveyed  to  the  gins  below  by  travel- 
ling lattices. 

"  In  the  factory  of  which  I  am  speaking  there 
were  six  gins,  all  of  them  saw-gins.  Each  gin 
was  provided  with  a  hopper  of  its  own,  and  the 
attendant,  when  any  hopper  was  full,  could  either 
divert  the  feed  to  some  other  gin,  as  he  required, 
or  stop  it  altogether.  The  gins  produced  from 
300  pounds  to  350  pounds  per  hour.  The  cotton 
is  dropped  from  the  condenser,  in  front  of  the  gin, 
upon  the  floor  close  to  the  baling  press,  into  which 
it  is  raked  by  the  attendant  and  baled  loosely,  but 
only  temporarily.  The  seed  falls  into  a  travelling 
lattice,  and  is  conducted  to  a  straight  cylindrical 
tube,  in  which  works  a  screw.  This  takes  it  some 
one  hundred  yards  to  the  oil  mill.  There  the  seed 
is  dropped  into  what  are  known  as  '  linting '  ma- 
chines, and  as  much  as  possible  of  the  lint  or  fibre 
left  upon  the  seed  is  removed. 

"  These  linting  machines — practically  another 
sort  of  gin — deliver  the  cotton  or  waste  in  a  kind 
of  roll,  which  is  straightway  put  behind  a  carding 
engine.  Coming  out  of  the  carding  engine  it  is 


COTTON   PLANT.  77 

made  into  wadding  by  pasting  it  on  card-board 
paper,  for  filling  in  quilts,  petticoats,  and  for  other 
purposes.  When  the  seed  has  passed  the  linting 
machine,  it  is  taken,  still  by  a  lattice,  to  a  hulling 
machine.  This  machine  will  take  off  the  outside 
shell,  which  is  passed  to  one  side,  while  the  green 
kernel  of  the  seed  goes  down  a  shoot.  The  seed 
fills  certain  receptacles  placed  in  the  oil  press,  and 
is  submitted  to  a  hydraulic  p^ess.  The  result  is 
a  clear  and  sweet  oil,  which  I  am  credibly  in- 
formed is  sold  in  England  and  other  countries 
under  the  name  of  *  olive  oil.'  The  remains  of 
the  green  kernel  are  then  pressed  into  what  are 
termed  cattle  cakes,  or  oil  cakes,  for  feeding 
cattle." 

But  the  reader  is  probably  asking,  what  is  a  gin 
like? 

The  illustration  seen  in  Fig.  9  is  a  gin  which 
goes  by  the  name  of  the  "  single-acting  Macarthy 
gin,"  so  called  because  it  has  only  one  oscillating 
blade  for  removing  the  fibre  from  the  seed,  The 
back  of  the  machine  is  shown  in  the  figure.  This 
process  at  the  best  is  a  brutal  one,  especially 
when  certain  gins  are  employed,  but  the  one 
figured  here  is  considered  to  do  little  damage  to 
the  fibre  when  extracting  the  seed. 

The  gin  shown  in  Fig.  9  is  of  simple  construc- 
tion, consisting  of  a  large  leather  roller  about  40 
inches  in  length  and  5  in  diameter.  "  The  roller 
is  built  up  by  means  of  solid  washers,  or  in  strips 
fastened  on  to  wood,  against  which  is  pressed  a 
doctor  knife. 

"  The  cotton  is  thrown  into  a  hopper,  and, 
falling,  is  seized  by  the  friction  of  the  leather  and 
drawn  between  the  doctor  knife  and  the  leather 
surface.  Whilst  this  is  taking  place,  there  is  a 


THE   STORY   OF   THE 


beater  knife  which  is  reciprocated  at  a  considera- 
ble speed  and  which  strikes  the  seed  attached  to 
the  cotton  drawn  away  by  the  leather  roller.  The 
detached  seed  will  then  fall  through  a  grid  pro- 


FlG.  9. — Single-acting  Macarthy  gin. 

vided  for  the  purpose.  A  single-action  gin  should 
produce  about  30  pounds  of  cleaned  cotton  per 
hour." 

Another  gin  which  does  considerable  damage 
to  fibre,  especially  if  it  be  over-fed,  is  still  in  use 
in  the  States.  This  was  the  invention  of  an 
American  named  Eli  Whitney,  and  has  been 
named  a  "  saw-gin." 

If  the  reafler  can  imagine  a  number  of  circular 
saws  (such  as  are  to  be  seen  in  a  wood-sawing 
mill)  placed  nearly  together  on  a  shaft  to  form  an 
almost  continuous  roller,  he  will  have  a  good  idea 
of  what  the  chief  part  of  a  saw-gin  is  like. 

As  the  cotton  is  fed  to  the  machine,  the  saws 


COTTON   PLANT.  79 

seize  it  and  strip  the  cotton  from  the  seeds,  which 
fall  through  grids  placed  below  the  saws.  The 
cotton  is  afterward  stripped  from  the  sa'ws  them- 
selves by  means  of  a  quickly  revolving  brush  which 
turns  in  the  opposite  direction  to  the  saws.  This 
gin  is  best  suited  to  short  stapled  cottons,  espe- 
cially such  as  are  grown  in  the  States.  For  the 
longer  fibred  cotton  this  gin  is  not  well  adapted, 
much  injury  resulting  to  the  cotton  treated 
by  it. 

After  the  cotton  is  ginned,  it  is  gathered  into 
bundles  and  roughly  baled.  When  a  sufficient 
quantity  has  been  so  treated,  it  is  carried  to  the 
"  compressors,"  where  the  cotton  undergoes  great 
reduction  in  bulk  as  a  result  of  the  enormous 
pressure  to  which  it  is  subjected. 

For  the  general  reader  it  will  scarcely  be 
necessary  or  wise  to  describe  a  "  cotton  press " 
in  detail.  Let  it  suffice  to  say  that  by  means 
of  a  series  of  levers — in  the  Morse  Press  seven 
are  used — tremendous  pressure  can  be  obtained. 
Thus  for  every  i  pound  pressure  of  steam  gener- 
ated there  will  be  seven  times  that  pressure,  if 
seven  levers  are  used.  When  200  pounds  pressure 
of  steam  is  up,  there  will  be  1400  pounds  pressure 
per  inch  on  the  cotton.  So  great  is  the  pressure 
exerted  that  a  bundle  of  cotton  coming  to  the 
press  from  the  ginnery,  4  feet  in  depth,  is  reduced 
to  7  inches  when  drawn  from  the  compressor. 
While  in  the  press  iron  bands  are  pujt  round  the 
cotton,  and  readers  will  have  frequently  seen  cot- 
ton on  its  way  to  the  mills  having  these  iron 
bands  round  it. 

The  following  table  shows  the  number  of  bands 
which  are  found  on  bales  coming  to  England  from 
cotton-growing  countries  : — 


8o 


THE   STORY   OF   THE 


No.  of  bands. 

American  bale     .  6  or  7 

Egyptian      "  .          n 

Indian  "       .         .          13 

Turkish         "  4 

American  Cylindrical  bale  — 
Brazilian  — 


Weight  in  Ibs. 

500 

700 

39° 

25°-325 
420-430 
175-220 


Within  the  last  few  years  an  entirely  new 
industry  has  been  started  in  some  of  the  Southern 
States  of  America. 

Up  to  recently  the  bales  sent  to  European 
countries  from  America  were  all  of  the  same  type 
as  shown  bv  the  centre  bale  in  Fig.  10. 


FIG.  io.-*£ales  from  various  cotton-growing  countries. 


Now  a  vast  quantity  of  cotton  is  being  baled 
in  the  form  as  shown  in  Fig.  n,  and  what  are 
known  as  cylindrical  bales  are  being  exported  in 
large  numbers.  In  the  "  Round  Bale  "  Circular 
of  the  American  Cotton  Company,  it  is  stated 


COTTON    PLANT.  8 1 

that  from  the  2ist  November,  1896,  to  January 
2nd,  1897,  no  less  than  1443  round  bales  were 
turned  out  of  the  factory  at  Waco  in  Texas.  The 
total  weight  of  these  bales  was  614,832  pounds, 
giving  an  average  of  426  pounds  per  bale. 

By  means  of  a  press  the  cotton  is  rolled  into 
the  form  as  shown  in  the  illustration.  The  press 
makes  a  bale  4  feet  long  and  2  feet  in  diameter 
and  weighs  over  35  pounds  per  cubic  foot  or  50 
per  cent,  denser  than  the  bale  made  under  the 
system  as  shown  in  Fig.  10. 


FIG.  ii. — Cylindrical  rolls  of  cotton. 

It  is  claimed  for  this  new  system  that  the  reg- 
ularity of  the  size  of  the  bale,  4x2  feet,  makes  it 
pack  much  closer  than  the  irregular  turtle-backed 
bales  as  usually  made  on  the  old  system. 

Under  the  new  style  the  cotton  is  pressed 
gradually  and  not  all  at  once.  For  this  reason  it 
is  claimed  that  the  fibre  is  not  injured  and  the 
cotton  arrives  at  the  mill  with  the  fibre  in  as  good 
condition  as  when  it  left  the  gins. 
6 


82  THE   STORY   OF   THE 

"  Bagging  and  ties  are  entirely  dispensed  with, 
as  the  air  is  pressed  out  of  the  cotton  and  it  has 
no  tendency  to  expand  again,  and  the  covering 
needed  is  only  sufficient  to  keep  the  cotton  clean." 

From  a  number  of  experiments  it  is  proved 
that  the  "  round  bale  "  is  both  fireproof  and  water 
proof. 

From  the  illustration  of  the  round  bale  shown 
in  Fig.  n,  it  will  be  seen  how  readily  this  new 
form  of  bale  lends  itself  to  greatly  aiding  the 
operatives  in  the  opening  processes  in  the  mill. 
The  roll  which  lies  on  the  floor  like  a  roll  of  car- 
pet could  be  so  fixed  that  the  cotton  could  be 
fed  to  the  opener  by  being  unrolled  as  shown  in 
the  illustration. 

At  present  the  round  bale  system  is  not  pop- 
ular and  it  remains  to  be  seen  whether  it  will 
commend  itself  to  cotton  spinners. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

MANIPULATION  OF  COTTON  IN  OPENING,  SCUTCH- 
ING, CARDING,  DRAWING,  AND  FLY-FRAME 
MACHINES. 

BEFORE  attempting  to  give  the  readers^of^this 
story  an  insight  into  the  various  operations 
through  which  cotton  is  made  to  pass,  it  may  be 
advisable  to  briefly  enumerate  them  first. 

On  the  field  there  are  the  operations  of  col- 
lecting and  ginning,  that  is,  separating  the  raw 
cotton  from  the  seeds.  To  the  stranger  it  is  very 
astonishing  that  as  many  as  66  to  75  pounds  of 
seed  are  got  from  every  100  pounds  of  seed  cot- 


COTTON    PLANT.  83 

ton  gathered.  Then  in  or  near  the  cotton  field 
the  process  of  baling  is  carried  out.  Thus  there 
are  collecting,  ginning  and  baling,  as  preliminary 
processes. 

When'  the  cotton  arrives  in  bales  at  the  mill 
(see  Fig.  10),  in  which  it  is  to  be  cleaned,  opened 
and  spun,  it  is  first  weighed  and  a  record  kept. 

In  the  mill  the  first  real  operation  is  the  tak- 
ing of  quantities  of  cotton  from  different  bales  of 
cotton  from  various  countries,  or  different  grades 
from  the  same  country,  and  "mixing"  so  as  to 
secure  a  greater  uniformity  in  the  quality  of  the 
yarn  produced.  In  this  process  it  is  now  the 
common  practice  to  use  a  machine  termed  the 
"Bale  Breaker,"  or  "Cotton  Puller." 

The  second  important  process  carried  out  in 
the  mill  is  "  opening."  By  this  the  matted  masses 
of  cotton  fibres  are  to  a  great  extent  opened  out, 
and  a  large  percentage  of  the  heavy  impurities, 
such  as  sand,  shell,  and  leaf,  fall  out  by  their  own 
weight.  It  is  now  also  usual  at  this  stage  to 
form  the  cotton  into  a  large  roll  or  sheet  called 
the  "lap." 

Immediately  following  the  "  opening  "  comes 
"  scutching,"  which  is  merely  a  continuation  of 
the  work  performed  by  the  "  opener,"  but  done 
in  such  a  way  that  greater  attention  is  bestowed 
upon  the  production  of  an  even  sheet  or  "  lap  " 
of  cotton. 

The  cotton  at  this  stage  is  practically  in  the 
same  condition  as  it  was  when  first  gathered  from 
the  tree  in  the  plantation. 

Carding  comes  next  in  order,  and  it  should  be 
observed  that  this  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
and  instructive  operations  carried  on  in  the  mill. 


84  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

The  process  of  opening  out  the  cotton  is  con- 
tinued in  this  operation  to  such  an  extent  that  the 
fibres  are  practically  individually  separated,  and 
while  in  this  condition  very  fine  impurities  are  re- 
moved, and  many  of  the  short  and  unripe  fibres 
which  are  always  more  or  less  present  are  re- 
moved. Before  leaving  the  machine  the  fibres 
are  gathered  together  again  in  a  most  wonderful 
manner  and  converted  into  a  "sliver,"  which  for 
all  the  world  looks  like  a  rope  of  cotton,  a  little 
less  than  an  inch  in  diameter. 

In  most  mills  "drawing"  succeeds  "carding," 
this  operation  having  for  its  object  (i)  the  doub- 
ling together  of  four  to  eight  slivers  from  the  card 
and  attenuating  them  to  the  dimension  of  one  so 
as  to  secure  greater  uniformity  in  diameter.  (2) 
The  reduction  of  the  crossed  and  entangled  fibres 
from  the  card  into  parallel  or  side  by  side  order. 

After  "drawing,"  the  cotton  is  brought  to 
and  sent  through  a  series  of  machines  termed 
"  Bobbin  and  Fly  Frames."  There  are  usually  three 
of  these  machines  for  the  cotton  to  pass  through, 
to  which  are  given  the  names  of  "  Slubbing,"  "  In- 
termediate," and  "  Roving  "  Frames. 

Their  duties  are  to  carry  on  the  operation  of 
making  the  sliver  of  cotton  finer  or  thinner  until 
it  is  ready  for  the  final  process  of  spinning,  and 
incidentally  to  add  to  the  uniformity  and  cleanli- 
ness of  the  thread  of  cotton. 

The  final  process  of  spinning  is  chiefly  per- 
formed on  one  of  two  machines,  the  "  Mule  "  and 
the  "Ring  Frame,"  either  of  which  makes  a 
thread  largely  used  without  further  treatment  in 
a  spinning  mill. 

Sometimes,  however,  the  thread  is  further 
treated  by  such  operations  as  doubling,  reeling, 


COTTON    PLANT.  85 

gassing,  etc.  It  should  be  added  that  in  the  pro- 
duction of  the  finest  and  best  yarns  an  important 
process  is  gone  through,  named  "  combing." 

This  may  be  defined  as  a  continuation  of  the 
carding  process  already  named  before  to  a  much 
more  perfect  degree.  The  chief  object  is  to  ex- 
tract all  fibres  below  a  certain  required  length, 
and  reject  them  as  waste.  There  is  as  much  of 
this  latter  made  at  this  stage  of  manufacture  as 
that  made  by  all  the  other  machines  put  together, 
that  is,  about  17  per  cent.  Of  course  it  will  be 
readily  seen  that  this  is  a  costly  operation  and  is 
limited  entirely  to  the  production  of  the  very  best 
and  finest  yarns. 

This  process  necessitates  the  employment  of  a 
machine  called  a  "  Sliver  Lap  "  and  sometimes  a 
"  Ribbon  Lap  Machine  "  in  order  to  put  the  sliv- 
ers from  the  carding  engine  into  a  small  lap  suit- 
able for  the  "creel"  of  the  "Combing  Machine." 

Cotton  Mixing  and  the  Bale  Breaker. — As  be- 
fore stated,  the  first  operation  in  the  mill  is  the 
opening  out  of  bales  of  raw  material  and  making 
a  "mixing."  Of  course  the  weight  of  the  bale  is 
ascertained  before  it  is  opened. 

All  varieties  of  cotton  vary  in  their  commercial 
properties,  this  variation  being  due  to  a  number 
of  causes.  From  a  commercial  value  point  of 
view,  there  is  an  enormous  difference  between  the 
very  best  and  the  very  worst  cottons ;  so  much 
so,  indeed,  that  they  are  never  blended  together. 
Between  these  two  extremes  there  is  a  well-graded 
number  of  varieties  and  classifications  of  cotton, 
and  some  approximate  so  closely  to  others  in 
quality,  that  they  are  often  blended  together  in 
the  "  mixing." 


86  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

Further  than  this,  the  same  class  of  cotton 
often  varies  in  spinning  qualities  from  a  number 
of  circumstances  that  need  not  here  be  named. 
This  is,  however,  an  additional  reason  why  cotton 
from  various  bales  should  be  blended  together  in 
order  to  secure  uniformity. 

A  cotton  "  mixing "  may  be  described  as  a 
kind  of  "  stack,"  resembling  somewhat  the  hay- 
stack of  the  farm  yards. 

The  method  usually  pursued  in  making  this 
mixing  is  somewhat  as  follows  : — A  portion  of 
cotton  from  a  certain  bale  is  taken  off  and  spread 
over  a  given  area  of  floor  space.  Then  a  similar 
portion  from  another  bale  is  placed  over  the  first 
layer  already  lying  on  the  floor. 

The  same  operation  is  followed  with  a  third 
and  fourth  layer  from  different  bales,  and  so  on 
with  as  many  bales  as  the  management  consider 
there  are  variations  in  quality,  the  larger  the 
mixing  the  better  for  securing  uniformity  of  yarn. 

When  it  is  desired  to  use  the  cotton,  it  should 
be  pulled  down  vertically  from  the  face  of  the 
"  mixing,"  so  as  to  secure  a  fair  portion  from  each 
bale  composing  the  mixture.  Before  spreading 
the  cotton  out  it  is  usually  pulled  into  pieces  of 
moderate  size  by  the  hands  of  the  operative. 

During  recent  years  it  has  become  the  very 
general  practice  to  use  a  small  machine  called 
the  "  Bale  Breaker  "  or  "  Cotton  Puller,"  and  to 
have  also  working  in  conjunction  with  this 
machine  long  travelling  u  lattices  "  called  "  mix- 
ing  lattices."  These  perform  the  operation  of 
"  pulling  "  and  "  mixing  "  the  cotton  much  more 
quickly  and  effectively  than  by  hand  labour. 

The  "  Cotton  Puller  "  or  "  Bale  Breaker  "  (see 
Fig.  12)  simply  consists,  in  its  most  useful  form, 


COTTON   PLANT.  87 

of  four  pairs  of  coarsely  fluted  or  spiked  rollers 
of  about  6  inches  diameter  with  a  feed  apron  or 
lattice  such  as  is  shown  in  the  illustration. 


FIG.  12. — Bale  breaker  or  puller. 

The  method  adopted  with  the  "  Bale  Breaker" 
and  "  mixing  lattices  "  in  use  is  as  follows  : — 

The  various  bales  of  cotton  intended  for 
"  mixing  "  are  placed  very  near  to  the  feed  apron 
of  the  Bale  Breaker,  and  a  layer  from  each  bale 
in  succession  is  placed  on  the  apron.  The  latter 
feeds  the  cotton  at  a  slow  rate  to  the  revolving 
rollers  of  the  machine,  and  as  each  pair  of  top 
and  bottom  rollers  that  the  cotton  meets  is  re- 
volving more  rapidly  than  the  preceding  pair,  the 
result  is  a  pulling  asunder  of  the  cotton  by  the 
rollers,  into  much  smaller  pieces,  quite  suitable 


88  THE  STORY  OF  THE 

for  the  next  machine.  The  Bale  Breaker  delivers 
the  cotton  upon  long  travelling  aprons  of  lattice 
work,  which  carry  the  cotton  away  and  deposit  it 
upon  any  desired  portion  of  the  floor  to  form  the 
"  mixing." 

Opening. — The  name  of  the  next  process,  viz., 
"opening,"  has  been  given  it  because  its  primary 
function  is  "  to  open  "  out  the  cotton  to  such  an 
extent  that  the  greater  bulk  of  the  seed,  leaf, 
sand,  and  dust  is  readily  extracted.  The  details 
of  this  machine  and  indeed  practically  of  all 
machines  used  in  cotton  spinning,  vary  so  much 
with  different  makers,  that  it  would  be  utterly 
out  of  place  to  deal  with  them  here,  so  that  it 
may  be  said  at  once,  that  all  such  points  are  en- 
tirely omitted  from  this  treatment  of  the  subject. 

The  essential  and  principal  portions  "of  the 
machines  are  practically  identical  for  all  makers, 
and  it  is  with  these  only  that  it  is  proposed  to 
deal,  taking  in  all  cases  the  best  present-day  prac- 
tice. 

The  opener,  then,  is  a  very  powerful  machine, 
being  in  fact  the  most  powerful  used  in  cotton 
spinning,  and  the  most  important  feature  of  the 
machine  is  the  employment  of  a  strong  beater,  to 
which  is  fitted  a  large  number  of  iron  or  steel 
knives  or  spikes.  These  beat  down  the  cotton 
and  open  it  at  a  terrific  rate,  the  beater  having  a 
surface  speed  of  perhaps  4000  feet  a  minute. 
Various  fans,  rollers,  and  other  parts  are  em- 
ployed to  feed  the  cotton  to  the  beater,  and  to 
take  it  away  again  after  'treatment.  It  will  per- 
haps best  serve  the  purpose  of  our  readers  if  the 
passage  of  the  cotton  be  described  through  an 
opener  of  the  most  modern  and  approved  con- 


COTTON   PLANT. 


89 


struction,  dealing  with  the  subject  in  non-techni- 
cal terms. 

With  this  object  in  view,  take  for  example 
what  is  termed  "  The  Double  Cotton  Opener" 
with  "  Hopper  Feed  Attachment."  This  machine 
is  shown  in  Fig.  13. 


FIG.  13. — "  Double  opener  "  with  u  hopper  feed." 

The  Hopper  Feed  is  about  the  most  recent 
improvement  of  any  magnitude  generally  adopted 
in  cotton  spinning  mills.  It  is  an  attachment  to 
the  initial  or  feed  end  of  an  opener  with  the 
object  of  feeding  the  cotton  more  cheaply  and 
effectively,  than  it  can  be  done  by  hand. 

It  may  be  said  to  consist  of  a  large  iron  feed 
box,  into  which  the  cotton  is  passed  in  consider- 
able quantities  at  one  time.  At  the  bottom  of 
the  feed  box,  or  hopper,  is  a  travelling  apron 
which  carries  the  cotton  forward,  so  as  to  be 
brought  within  the  action  of  steel  pins  in  an  in- 
clined travelling  apron  or  lattice.  This  latter 


90  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

carries  the  cotton  upwards,  and  special  mechan- 
ism is  provided  in  the  shape  of  what  is  termed 
an  "  Evener  roller,"  to  prevent  too  much  cotton 
going  forward  at  once. 

The  cotton  that  passes  over  the  top  of  the 
inclined  lattice  or  apron  is  stripped  off  by  what 
is  denominated  the  stripping  roller,  and  is  then 
deposited  on  the  feed  apron  of  the  opener,  where 
formerly  it  was  placed  by  hand. 

It  may  be  said  that  one  man  can  feed  two  ma- 
chines with  Hopper  Feeds  as  against  one  without 
them,  and  in  the  best  makes  the  work  is  done 
more  effectively. 

The  feed  lattice  of  the  opener  carries  the  cot- 
ton along  to  the  feed  rollers,  which  project  it  for- 
ward into  the  path  of  the  large  beater.  It  is  here 
that  the  opening  and  cleaning  actions  are  chiefly 
performed. 

The  strong  knives  or  spikes  of  the  beater  break 
the  cotton  into  very  small  portions  indeed,  and 
dash  it  against  "  cleaning  bars  "  or  "  grate  bars  " 
specially  arranged  and  constructed.  Through  the 
interstices  of  these  bars  much  of  the  now  loosened 
seed  and  dirt  present  in  the  cotton  passes  into  a 
suitable  receptacle,  which  is  afterward  cleaned 
out  at  regular  intervals. 

The  opened  and  cleaned  cotton  is  taken  away 
from  the  action  of  the  beater  by  an  air  current 
produced  by  a  powerful  fan.  This  latter  creates 
a  partial  vacuum  in  the  beater  chamber  by  blow- 
ing the  air  out  of  certain  air  exit  trunks  specially 
provided.  To  supply  this  partial  vacuum  afresh, 
air  can  only  be  obtained  from  the  beater  chamber, 
and  the  air  current  thus  induced,  takes  the  cotton 
along  with  it,  and  deposits  it  in  the  form  of  a  sheet 
upon  what  are  termed  "  cages  "  or  "  sieve  cylinders." 


COTTON   PLANT.  91 

These  are  hollow  cylinders  of  iron  or  zinc  per- 
forated with  a  very  large  number  of  small  holes 
through  which  the  air  rushes,  leaving  the  cotton, 
as  it  were,  plastered  on  the  outer  surfaces  of  the 
cages. 

It  is  usual  to  have  a  pair  of  these  cages,  work- 
ing one  over  the  other  like  the  pair  of  rollers  in 
a  wringing  machine. 

The  cotton  now  passes  between  two  pairs  of 
small  guide  rollers,  and  is  fed  by  the  second  pair 
to  a  second  beater,  but  of  very  different  construc- 
tion from  the  first  one. 

This  consists  of  two  or  three  iron  or  steel 
blades  extending  the  full  width  of  the  machine 
and  carried  by  specially  constructed  arms  from  a 
strong  central  shaft. 

The  edges  of  these  beater  blades  are  made 
somewhat  sharp,  and  they  strike  down  the  cotton 
from  the  feed  roller  at  the  rate  of  2000  or  more 
blows  per  minute. 

This  of  course  carries  the  opening  work  of  the 
cotton  of  the  first  beater  to  a  still  further  degree, 
and  as  in  this  case  the  cotton  is  also  struck  down 
upon  "beater  bars"  or  cleaning  bars,  a  further 
quantity  of  loosened  impurities  passes  through 
the  bars.  As  before,  another  powerful  fan  cre- 
ates an  air  current  by  which  the  cotton  is  carried 
away  from  the  beater  and  placed  upon  a  pair  of 
"  Cages."  From  this  point  the  cotton  is  con- 
ducted in  the  form  of  a  sheet  between  four  heavy 
calender  or  compression  rollers,  the  rollers  being 
superimposed  over  each  other,  and  the  cotton  re- 
ceiving three  compressions  in  its  passage. 

This  makes  a  much  more  solid  and  tractable 
sheet  of  cotton,  and  it  is  now  simply  wound  upon 
an  iron  roller  in  the  form  of  a  roll  of  cotton 


92 


THE  STORY  OF  THE 


termed  a  ulap,"  being  now  ready  for  the  subse- 
quent process,  as  shown  in  the  illustration 
(Fig.  14). 


FIG.  14.— Scutching  machine  with  "  lap  "  at  the  back. 

Scutching. — This  term  obviously  means  beat- 
ing, and  the  process  itself  is  simply  a  repetition 
of  the  opening  and  cleaning  properties  of  the 
opener,  these  objects  being  attained  to  a  greater 
degree  of  perfection.  For  the  best  classes  of 
cotton  it  is  often  deemed  sufficient  to  pass  it 
through  the  opener  alone,  and  then  to  immedi- 
ately transfer  the  lap  to  the  process  of  carding. 
For  some  cottons  it  is  the  practice  to  pass  the 
cotton  through  two  scutchers  in  addition  to  the 
opener,  while  in  other  cases  it  is  the  practice  to 
use  one  scutcher  only  in  addition  to  the  opener. 

In  the  scutcher  it  is  the  most  common  practice 


COTTON    PLANT.  93 

to  take  four  laps  from  the  opener  and  to  place 
them  in  a  specially  constructed  creel  and  resting 
on  a  travelling  "  lattice  "  or  apron.  By  this  they 
are  slowly  unwound  and  the  four  sheets  are  laid 
one  upon  another  and  passed  in  one  combined 
sheet,  through  feed  rollers,  to  a  two  or  three 
bladed  beater,  exactly  like  the  second  one  de- 
scribed when  treating  upon  the  double  opener. 
Also,  exactly  in  the  same  manner,  a  lap  is  formed 
ready  for  the  immediately  succeeding  process  of 
carding.  In  the  scutcher  the  doubling  of  four 
laps  together  tends  to  produce  a  sheet  of  cotton 
more  uniform  in  thickness  and  weight  than  that 
from  the  opener.  This  object  of  equality  of  lap 
is  also  invariably  aided  by  what  are  termed  Auto- 
matic Feed  Regulators,  which  regulate  the  weight 
of  cotton  given  to  the  beater  to  something  like  a 
continuous  uniformity.  The  action  is  clearly  seen 
in  the  illustration. 

Carding. — By  many  persons  this  is  deemed  to 
be  the  most  important  operation  in  cotton  spin- 
ning. Its  several  duties  may  be  stated  as  fol- 
lows : — 

1.  The  removal  of  a  large  proportion  of  any 

impurities,  such  as  broken  leaf,  seed  and 
shell,  that  may  have  escaped  the  previous 
processes.  It  may  usually  be  deemed  to 
be  the  final  process  of  cleansing. 

2.  To  open  out  and  disentangle  the  clusters 

of  fibres  into  even  greater  individualisa- 
tion  than  existed  when  first  picked,  and 
to  leave  them  in  such  condition  that  the 
subsequent  operations  can  easily  draw 
them  out,  and  reduce  them  to  parallel 
order. 


94  THE   STORY   OF  THE 

3.  The  extraction  of  a  good  proportion  of  the 

short,  broken  and  unripe  fibres,  present 
more  or  less. in  all  cottons  grown,  and 
practically  worthless  from  a  manufactur- 
ing point  of  view. 

4.  The  reduction  of  the  heavy  sheet  or  lap 

of  cotton  from  the  scutcher,  into  a  com- 
paratively light  and  thin  sliver.  Ordina- 
rily, one  yard  of  the  lap  put  up  behind 
the  card  weighs  more  than  100  times  as 
heavy  as  the  sliver  delivered  at  the  front 
of  the  card. 

There  are  several  varieties  of  Carding  Engine, 
but  in  each  case  nearly  all  the  essential  features 
are  practically  the  same  in  one  card  as  in  another. 
At  the  present  time,  the  type  of  Carding  Engine 
which  has  practically  superseded  all  others  is  de- 
nominated the  "  Revolving  Flat  Card."  This  Card 
originated  with  Mr.  Evan  Leigh,  of  Manchester, 
and  after  being  in  close  competition  with  several 
other  types  has  almost  driven  them  out  of  the 
market.  Of  course  it  has  been  considerably  im- 
proved by  later  inventors,  and  various  machine 
makers  have  their  own  technical  peculiarities. 

In  the  illustration  seen  in  Fig.  15  there  is  con- 
veyed an  excellent  idea  of  the  appearance  of  the 
heavy  lap  of  cotton  as  it  is  placed  behind  the 
Carding  Engine,  and  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
same  cotton  appears  as  a  "  sliver  "  or  soft  strand 
of  cotton  as  it  issues  from  the  front  of  the  same 
machine,  and  enters  the  cylindrical  can  into  which 
it  is  passed,  and  coiled  into  compact  layers,  suit- 
able for  withdrawal  at  the  immediately  succeeding 
process. 

In  the  main,  the  parts  which  operate  upon  the 


COTTON    PLANT. 


95 


FIG.  15.— Two  views  of  the  carding  engine  :   upper  view,  cotton 
entering  ;  lower  view,  cotton  leaving. 


g6  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

cotton  fibres  in  their  passage  through  this  machine 
consist  of  a  number  of  cylinders  or  rollers  of  vari- 
ous diameters,  but  practically  equal  in  width.  Some 
of  these  rollers  are  merely  to  guide  and  conduct 
the  cotton  forward,  but  the  more  important  are 
literally  bristling  all  over  with  a  vast  number  of 
closely  set  and  finely  drawn  steel  wire  teeth,  whose 
duty  it  is  to  open,  and  comb  out,  and  clean  the 
fibers  as  they  pass  along. 

To  begin  with,  the  "  lap  "  or  roll  of  cotton  is 
placed  behind  the  machine  so  as  to  rest  on  a  roller 
of  6  inches  in  diameter,  which  slowly  unwinds  the 
lap  at  the  rate  of  about  9  inches  per  minute,  by 
frictional  contact  therewith. 

Here,  it  may  be  said  that  the  width  of  this  and 
other  chief  rollers  and  cylindrical  parts  of  the  card 
may  be  about  38  inches  or  40  inches  wide,  there 
being  a  tendency  to  make  present-day  Carding 
Engines  rather  narrower  than  formerly,  in  order 
to  give  greater  strength  to  certain  parts.  From 
the  lap  roller  the  sheet  of  cotton  is  conducted  for 
about  8  inches  over  a  smooth  feed  plate,  and  then 
it  goes  underneath  a  fluted  roller  of  2\  inches 
diameter,  termed  the  feed  roller,  having  practi- 
cally the  same  surface  speed  as  the  lap  roller,  or 
possibly  a  small  fraction  more  to  keep  the  cotton 
lap  tight. 

At  this  stage  the  actual  work  of  the  Carding 
Engine  may  be  said  to  commence.  While  the 
feed  roller  and  the  feed  plate  hold  the  end  of  the 
sheet  of  cotton  and  project  it  forward  at  the  slow 
rate  of  8  or  9  inches  per  minute,  this  projecting 
end  of  the  lap  becomes  subject  to  the  action  of  a 
powerful  roller  or  beater  termed  the  taker-in  or 
licker-in. 

The  most  recent  and  improved  construction  of 


COTTON    PLANT.  97 

this  roller  is  termed  the  Metallic  Taker-in,  and  it 
is  covered  all  over  with  strong  steel  teeth  shaped 
something  like  those  of  a  saw.  It  is  about  9 
inches  in  diameter,  and  its  strong  teeth  strike  the 
cotton  down  from  the  feed  roller  with  a  surface 
speed  of  nearly  1000  feet  per  minute. 

It  is  at  this  stage  that  the  bulk  of  the  heavier 
impurities  still  found  in  the  cotton  are  removed, 
as  these  fall  through  certain  grids  below  the  taker- 
in  immediately  they  are  loosened  from  the  retain- 
ing fibres  by  the  powerful  teeth  of  the  taker-in. 

The  great  bulk  of  the  cotton  fibres,  however, 
are  retained  by  the  teeth  of  the  taker-in  and  car- 
ried round  the  under  side  to  a  point  where  they 
are  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  central  and  most 
important  part  of  every  Carding  Engine,  viz.,  the 
main  "  cylinder."  The  licker-in  contains  about 
twenty -eight  teeth  per  square  inch,  but  the 
"  cylinder  "  is  the  first  of  the  parts  that  the  cot- 
ton arrives  at,  previously  referred  to  as  being 
covered  with  a  vast  number  of  closely  set  steel 
wire  teeth. 

Just  to  convey  an  idea  of  this  point  to  the  un- 
initiated reader,  it  may  be  said  that  it  is  quite 
common  to  have  on  the  "cylinder"  as  many  as 
600  steel  wire  teeth  in  one  square  inch.  For  a 
cylinder  40  inches  wide  and  50  inches  diameter, 
this  works  out  to  the  vast  number  of  over  3,800,- 
ooo  steel  wire  teeth  on  one  cylinder,  each  tooth 
being  about  J  inch  long,  and  secured  in  a  cloth 
or  rubber  foundation  before  the  latter  is  wound 
round  the  cylinder. 

The  steel  teeth  of  the  cylinder  strip  the  fibres 
from  the  taker-in  and  carry  them  in  an  upward 
direction,  the  surface  speed  of  the  cylinder  being 
over  2000  feet  per  minute. 
7 


98  THE  STORY  OF  THE 

Placed  over  the  cylinder,  and  extending  for 
nearly  one-half  of  its  circumference,  are  what  are 
technically  known  as  the  "flats." 

These  are  narrow  iron  bars,  each  about  i-f 
inches  wide ;  each  being  covered  with  steel  wire 
teeth  in  the  same  manner  as  the  cylinder;  and 
each  extending  right  across  the  width  of  the  cyl- 
inder, and  resting  on  a  suitable  bearing  termed 
the  "bend." 

They  are  formed  into  an  endless  chain  con- 
taining about  108  "  flats,"  but  only  about  44  of 
which  are  in  actual  work  at  one  time ;  this  end- 
less chain  of  flats  being  given  a  slow  movement 
of  about  3  inches  per  minute. 

Here  it  may  be  said  that  the  various  working- 
parts  are  set  as  close  as  possible  to  each  other 
without  being  in  actual  contact,  the  usual  distance 
being  about  TJ^rd  of  an  inch,  determined  by  a 
specially  constructed  gauge,  in  the  hands  of 
a  skilled  workman. 

The  steel  teeth  of  the  flats,  being  set  very 
close  to  those  of  the  cylinder,  catch  hold  of  and 
retain  a  portion  of  the  short  warty  fibres  and  fine 
impurities  that  may  be  on  the  points  of  the  cylin- 
der teeth,  the  amount  of  this  reaching  about  3  per 
cent,  of  the  cotton  passed  through  the  machine. 
In  addition  to  this  the  teeth  of  the  flats  work 
against  those  of  the  cylinder  so  as  to  exercise  a 
combing  action  on  the  cotton  fibres. 

Having  passed  the  "  flats,"  the  cotton  is  de- 
posited by  the  cylinder  on  what  is  termed  the 
doffer.  This  is  a  cylindrical  body,  exactly  similar 
to  the  main  "cylinder"  excepting  that  it  is  only 
about  half  the  diameter,  say  24  inches.  Its  steel 
wire  teeth  are  set  in  the  opposite  way  to  those  of 
the  cylinder,  and  its  surface  speed  is  only  about 


COTTON    PLANT.  99 

75  feet  per  minute.  These  two  circumstances 
acting  together  enable  it  to  take  the  cotton  fibres 
from  the  main  cylinder. 

The  operations  of  carding  may  now  be  said  to 
be  practically  performed,  as  the  remaining  opera- 
tions have  for  their  object  the  stripping,  collect- 
ing, and  guiding  of  the  cotton  into  a  form  suitable 
for  the  next  succeeding  processes.  The  fleece  of 
cotton  is  stripped  from  the  doffer  by  the  "  Doffer 


FIG.  16. — Lap,  web,  and  sliver  of  cotton. 

Comb,"  which  is  a  thin  bar  of  steel,  having  a  ser- 
rated under  edge,  and  making  about  1600  beats 
or  strokes  per  minute.  From  this  point  cotton  is 
collected  into  the  form  of  a  loose  rope  or  "  sliver," 
and  passed  first  through  a  trumpet-shaped  mouth, 
and  then  through  a  pair  of  calender  rollers  about 
six  inches  wide  and  four  inches  in  diameter. 

Finally,  the  sliver  of  cotton  is  carried  upward, 


100  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

as  shown  in  the  illustration  (Fig.  15),  and  passed 
through  special  apparatus  and  deposited  into  the 
can,  also  shown.  This  latter  is  about  10  inches 
in  diameter  and  36  inches  in  length,  and  the  whole 
arrangement  for  depositing  the  cotton  suitably 
into  the  can  is  denominated  the  "  Coiler."  In  the 
next  illustration  (Fig.  16)  are  shown  three  forms 
in  which  the  cotton  is  found  before  and  after 
working  by  the  Carding  Engine.  That  to  the 
left  is  the  lap  as  it  enters,  the  middle  figure  is 
part  of  the  web  as  it  comes  from  the  doffer,  and 
that  to  the  right  is  part  of  a  coil  of  cotton  from 
the  can. 

Such  is  a  brief  description  of  the  most  impor- 
tant of  the  preparatory  processes  of  cotton  spin- 
ning. There  are  innumerable  details  involving 
technical  knowledge  which  fall  outside  the  prov- 
ince of  this  story. 

Drawing  Frames. — It  is  a  very  common  thing 
for  a  new  beginner  in  the  study  of  cotton  spinning 
to  ask — what  is  the  use  of  the  drawing  frame  ? 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  unpractised  eye  cannot 
see  any  difference  between  the  sliver  or  soft  rope 
of  cotton  as  it  reaches  the  drawing  frame  and  as 
it  leaves  the  frame. 

The  experienced  eye  of  the  practical  man  can, 
however,  detect  a  wonderful  difference. 

It  has  been  shown  that  the  immediately  pre- 
ceding operation  of  carding  —  amongst  other 
things — reduces  the  heavy  lap  into  a  compara- 
tively thin  light  sliver  ;  thus  advancing  with  one 
great  stride  a  long  way  toward  the  production  of 
the  long  fine  thread  of  yarn  ready  for  the  market. 

No  such  difference  can  be  perceived  in  the 
sliver  at  the  drawing  frame.  This  machine  is 


COTTON    PLANT.  IOI 

practically  devoted  to  improving  the  thread  final- 
ly made  in  two  distinct  and  important  ways. 

1.  The  fibres  of  cotton  in   the  sliver,  as  they 
leave  the  Carding   Engine,  are  in  a  very  crossed 
and  entangled  condition,  not  at  all  suited  to  the 
production  of  a  strong  yarn  by  the  usual  processes 
of  cotton  spinning.     The  first  duty  of  the  draw- 
ing frame  may  be  said,  therefore,  to  be  the  laying 
of  the  fibres  in  parallel  order  to  one  another,  by 
the  action  of  the  drawing  rollers. 

2.  The  sliver  of  cotton,  as  it  leaves  the  card, 
is  by  no  means  sufficiently  uniform  in  weight  per 
yard  for  the  production  of  a  uniform  and  strong 
finished  thread.     It  will  easily  be  conceived  by 
the  readers  of  this  story  of  the  Cotton  plant  that 
the   strength   of  any  thread    is  only  that  of  its 
weakest  portions. 

Take  a  rope  intended  to  hold  a  heavy  weight 
suspended  at  its  lower  end,  and  assume  it  to  be 
made  of  the  best  material  and  stoutest  substance, 
but  to  contain  one  very  weak  place  in  it ;  this 
rope  would  practically  be  useless,  because  the 
strength  of  the  rope  would  only  be  that  of  the 
weakest  part. 

The  drawing  machine  in  cotton  spinning  aims 
at  removing  the  weak  places  in  cotton  thread, 
thus  making  the  real  strength,  of  the  thread  vast- 
ly greater  than  it  would  otherwise  be. 

The  method  by  which  these  important  objects 
are  attained  may  be  briefly  explained  as  fol- 
lows : — 

From  four  to  eight,  but  most  usually  six,  cans 
of  sliver  from  the  previous  machine  are  placed 
behind  the  frame,  and  the  ends  of  the  slivers  con- 
ducted over  special  mechanism  within  the  range 
of  action  of  four  pairs  of  drawing  rollers.  This 


102  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

passage  of  the  cotton  is  shown  very  clearly  in 
Fig.  17. 

The  top  rollers  are  made  of  cast  iron,  covered 
with  soft  and  highly  finished  leather  made  from 
sheepskins,  the  object  of  this  being  to  cause  the 
rollers  to  have  a  firm  grip  of  the  cotton  fibres, 
without  at  the  same  time  injuring  them.  The 
bottom  rollers  are  of  iron  or  steel,  made  with 
longitudinal  flutes  or  grooves,  in  order  to  bite 
the  cotton  fibres  firmly  on  the  leathers  of  the  top 
rollers.  In  order  to  assist  the  rollers  in  main- 
taining a  firm  grip  of  the  fibres  the  top  rollers  are 
held  down  by  somewhat  heavy  weights. 

The  action  of  the  drawing  rollers  will  be  ade- 
quately discussed  later  in  this  story,  when  dealing 
with  the  inventions  of  Lewis  Paul  and  Sir  Richard 
Arkwright,  and  need  not  be  enlarged  upon  at  this 
stage. 

It  will  be  sufficient,  therefore,  to  say  that, 
assuming  that  six  slivers  are  put  up  together  at 
the  back  of  the  frame,  the  "  draft  "  or  amount  of 
drawing-out  between  the  first  and  second  pairs 
of  rollers  the  cotton  comes  to,  may  be  about  1.3, 
between  the  second  and  third  pairs  1.8,  and  be- 
tween the  third  and  fourth  pairs  2.6.  These  three 
multiplied  together  give  a  total  draft  of  slightly 
over  6. 

In  other  words,  assuming  that  i  inch  of  cotton 
be  passed  through  the  first  pair  of  rollers,  the  sec- 
ond pair  will  immediately  draw  it  out  into  1.3 
inches ;  the  third  pair  will  draw  out  the  same  por- 
tion of  cotton  into  1.3  x  1.8  inches  —  2.34  inches, 
and  the  fourth  or  last  pair  of  rollers  will  draw 
out  the  same  portion  of  cotton  into  2.34  x  2.6 
inches  =  6.084. 

The  six  slivers  put  up  at  the  back  are  therefore 


COTTON   PLANT. 


I03 


104  THE  STORY  OF  THE 

drawn  out  or  attenuated  to  the  dimensions  of  one 
by  the  rollers,  and  then  at  the  delivery  side  of  the 
machine  the  six  slivers  are  united  into  one  sliver, 
and  arranged  in  beautiful  order  inside  a  can  ex- 
actly as  described  for  the  Carding  Engine. 

Now  it  is  in  the  doubling  together  and  again 
drawing-out  of  the  slivers  of  cotton  that  the  two 
objects  of  making  the  fibres  parallel  and  the  sliv- 
ers uniform  are  effected. 

In  the  first  place,  even  the  uninitiated  readers 
of  this  story  may  conceive  that  the  combining  of 
six  slivers  will  naturally  cause  any  extra  thick  or 
thin  places  in  any  of  the  individual  slivers  to  be- 
come much  reduced  in  extent  by  falling  along 
with  correct  diameters  of  the  other  five  slivers; 
and  experience  proves  that  such  is  the  actual  fact. 
In  this  way  the  slivers,  or  soft  untwisted  ropes  of 
cotton,  are  made  uniform. 

It  is  perhaps  not  so  easy  to  see  how  it  is  that 
drawing  rollers  make  the  fibres  of  cotton  parallel. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  may  be  said  that  as  each 
pair  of  rollers  projects  the  fibres  forward,  the  next 
pair  of  rollers  takes  hold  of  the  fibres  and  draws 
their  front  extremities  forward  more  rapidly  than 
the  other  pair  will  let  the  back  extremities  of 
the  same  fibres  pass  forward.  It  is  this  action 
often  repeated  that  draws  the  fibres  straight,  or 
in  other  words,  reduces  them  to  a  condition  in 
which  they  are  parallel  to  each  other. 

It  is  the  usual  practice  to  pass  each  portion 
of  cotton  through  three  separate  frames  in  this 
manner,  in  immediate  and  rapid  succession.  The 
"slivers  "  or  ropes  of  cotton  made  at  the  front  of 
the  first  drawing  frame,  would  be  placed  in  their 
cans  behind  a  second  drawing  frame  and  the 
exact  process  just  described  would  be  repeated. 


COTTON   PLANT.  105 

The  same  identical  process  would  usually  be 
performed  yet  a  third  time  in  order  to  secure 
the  required  objects  with  what  is  considered  a 
sufficient  degree  of  perfection. 

After  this  the  cotton  is  usually  deemed  to  be 
quite  ready  for  the  immediately  sdcceeding  pro- 
cess of  "  slubbing." 

Bobbin  and  Fly  Frames. — The  series  of  ma- 
chines now  to  be  dealt  with,  are  distinguished 
more  for  their  complicated  mechanism  in  putting 
twist  into  the  attenuated  cotton  and  in  winding  it 
upon  bobbins  in  suitable  form  for  the  immedi- 
ately succeeding  process,  than  for  the  action  of 
the  parts  upon  the  cotton  so  as  to  render  it  better 
fitted  for  the  production  of  strong,  fine  yarn. 

The  manner  in  which  these  machines  perform 
a  part  in  the  actual  production  of  a  thread  or 
yarn  is  practically  a  repetition  of  the  work  of 
the  drawing  frame,  with  the  great  difference  that 
the  strand  or  thin  rope  of  cotton  leaves  each 
machine  of  the  series  in  a  thinner  and  longer 
condition  than  when  it  arrived. 

This  attenuation  of  the  cotton  roving  is  in- 
deed the  chief  desideratum  that  bobbin  and  fly 
frames  aim  at,  although  they  assist  in  making  the 
strand  of  cotton  more  uniform  by  carrying  still 
further  to  a  limited  extent  the  doubling  principle 
so  extensively  utilised  at  the  drawing  frames. 

The  basis  of  the  operations  are  again  the 
drawing  rollers,  brought  to  such  a  state  of  per- 
fection by  Richard  Arkwright,  and  here  it  may 
be  useful  to  remind  the  readers  of  this  story 
how  superior  in  this  respect  of  general  adaption 
Arkwright's  method  of  spinning  was  to  that  of 
Hargreaves'.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the 


106  THE   STORY   OF  THE 

latter  named  inventor  utilised  a  travelling  carriage, 
for  drawing  the  cotton  finer,  while  the  former 
performed  the  same  work  by  drawing  rollers. 

Although  the  travelling  carriage  principle  was 
at  one  time  somewhat  largely  utilised  in  preparing 
the  rovings  for  the  final  process  of  spinning,  it  has 
long  since  entirely  given  way  before  the  superior 
merits  and  adaptability  of  the  drawing  roller 
principle ;  and  it  is  now  this  latter  method  which 
is  universally  employed. 

It  usually  takes  three  bobbin  and  fly  frames 
to  make  up  what  may  be  called  a  "  set,"  each 
portion  of  the  cotton  roving  passing  through  the 
three  machines  in  succession.  For  low  classes  of 
yarn  only  two  of  these  machines  may  be  used, 
while  for  the  finest  yarns  there  are  sometimes 
four  used  to  make  up  the  "set." 

Of  course,  all  the  readers  of  this  story  must 
understand  that  in  an  ordinary-sized  cotton  spin- 
ning mill  there  will  be  many  sets  of  these  machines, 
just  as  there  will  be  a  large  number  of  "carding 
engines  "  and  "  drawing  frames,"  and  mules.  Bale 
brakers,  openers  and  scutchers  are  so  very  pro- 
ductive that  only  a  limited  number  is  required  as 
compared  with  the  other  machines  already  named. 

Those  of  our  readers  who  have  studied  the 
details  of  Arkwright's  spinning  frame,  described  in 
another  chapter  in  this  book,  and  have  understood 
those  details,  will  have  a  clear  comprehension  of 
the  action  of  the  parts  and  leading  mechanical 
principles  concerned  in  the  operations  of  a  modern 
bobbin  and  fly  frame.  Certainly  there  are  some 
of  the  most  difficult  problems  of  cotton  spinning 
involved  in  the  mechanism  of  these  machines,  but 
these  points  are  so  highly  technical  that  it  is  not 
intended  to  introduce  them  here. 


COTTON    PLANT.  107 

The  "  set  "  of  machines  just  named  are  usually 
known  by  the  names  "Slubber,"  "  Intermediate 
or  Second  Slubber,"  and  "  Roving  "  Frames. 

Nearly  all  the  operations  and  mechanisms 
involved  in  one  are  almost  identical  in  the  others, 
so  that  a  description  of  one  only  in  the  set  is 
necessary,  merely  explaining  that  the  parts  of  each 
machine  the  cotton  comes  to  in  the  latter  two  of 
the  set  are  smaller  and  more  finely  set  than  the 
corresponding  parts  of  the  immediately  preceding 
machine. 

Taking  the  Intermediate  frame  as  a  basis,  the 
operation  may  be  described  as  follows: — The 
bobbins  formed  at  the  slubbing  frame  are  put 
in  the  creel  of  the  Intermediate,  as  shown  in 
the  photograph  (Fig.  18),  each  bobbin  resting 
on  a  wooden  skewrer  or  peg  which  will  easily 
rotate. 

In  order  to  increase  the  uniformity  of  the 
roving  or  strand  of  cotton,  the  ends  from  two 
of  the  slubbing  rovings  are  conducted  together 
through  the  rollers  of  the  machine. 

There  are  three  pairs  of  these  rollers,  acting 
on  the  cotton  in  every  way  just  as  described  for 
the  drawing  frame. 

Although  two  rovings  are  put  together  be- 
hind the  rollers,  yet  the  "  draft  "  or  drawing-out 
power  of  the  rollers  is  such,  that  the  roving  that 
issues  from  the  front  of  the  rollers  is  about  three 
times  as  thin  as  each  individual  roving  put  up 
behind  the  rollers.  This  drawing--out  action  of 
the  rollers  need  not  be  further  dilated  upon  at 
this  stage. 

The  points  which  demand  some  little  attention 
at  our  hands,  are  the  methods  and  mechanism 
involved  in  twisting  the  attenuated  roving,  and 


io8 


THE   STORY  OF  THE 


COTTON   PLANT  109 

winding  it  upon  bobbins  or  spools  in  suitable 
form  for  the  next  process. 

As  regards  twisting  of  the  roving  it  must  be 
distinctly  understood  that  when  the  attenuated 
strand  of  cotton  issues  from  the  rollers  of  the 
first  bobbin  and  fly  frame,  it  has  become  so 
thin  and  weak  that  it  can  no  longer  withstand 
the  requisite  handling  without  being  seriously 
damaged.  Hence  the  introduction  of  "  Twist," 
which  is  by  far  the  most  important  strength- 
producing  factor  or  principle  entering  into  the 
composition  of  cotton  roving  and  yarn. 

Without  twist  there  would  be  no  cotton 
factories,  no  cotton  goods;  none  of  the  splendid 
and  gigantic  buildings  of  one  description  or  an- 
other which  are  found  so  plentifully  intermingled 
with  the  dwellings  and  factories  of  large  cotton 
manufacturing  towns ! 

In  a  sense  it  is  to  this  all-powerful  factor  of 
"twist  "  that  all  these  buildings  owe  their  exist- 
ence, since  it  would  be  practically  impossible 
to  make  a  thread  from  cotton  fibres  without 
the  assistance  of  "  twist "  to  make  the  fibres 
adhere  to  each  other.  Hence  there  could  be  none 
of  that  wealth  which  has  caused  the  erection  of 
these  buildings. 

This  is  true  in  a  double  sense,  since  we  have 
both  the  natural  twist  of  the  cotton  fibres  and 
the  artificial  twist  introduced  at  the  latter  pro- 
cesses of  cotton  spinning,  in  order  to  make  indi- 
vidual fibres  and  aggregations  of  fibres  adhere  to 
each  other.  What  is  termed  the  natural  twist  of 
the  fibres  may  average  in  good  cottons  upwards  of 
180  twists  per  inch,  while  the  twists  per  inch  put 
into  the  finished  threads  of  yarn  from  those  fibres 
may  vary,  say,  between  20  and  30  twists  per  inch. 


110  THE   STORY   OF   THE 

In  all  the  fly  frames,  therefore,  this  artificial 
twist  is  invariably  and  necessarily  put  into  the 
roving.  As  the  cotton  leaves  the  front  or  deliv- 
ery rollers,  each  strand  descends  to  a  bobbin 
of  from  8  to  12  inches  long,  upon  which  it  is 
wound  by  special  mechanism.  As  in  Arkwright's 
frame,  this  bobbin  is  placed  loosely  upon  a  ver- 
tical "  spindle,"  and  upon  the  latter  is  fitted  a 
"  flyer,"  whose  duty  it  is  to  guide  the  cotton  upon 
the  bobbin. 

The  primary  duty  of  the  spindle  is  to  insert 
the  "  twist  "  which  has  been  shown  to  be  so  neces- 
sary to  give  sufficient  strength  to  the  roving. 

Let  any  reader  of  this  story  hold  a  piece  of 
soft  stuff  in  one  hand  while  with  the  other  hand 
he  rotates  or  twists  the  roving  and  he  will  have 
an  idea  of  the  method  and  effect  of  twisting  (see 
Fig.  19). 

Without  going  into  minute  details  we  may  say 
that  the  practical  effect  is  that,  while  the  roving 
is  held  firmly  by  the  rollers,  it  is  twisted  by  means 
of  its  connection  at  the  other  end  to  the  rotating 
bobbin,  spindle  and  flyer.  The  twist  runs  right 
from  the  spindle  along  the  6  to  12  inches  of  cotton 
that  may  extend  from  the  spindle  top  to  the 
"  nip  "  of  the  rollers,  thus  imparting  the  requisite 
strength  to  the  roving  as  it  issues  from  the  rollers. 
The  mechanism  for  revolving  the  spindles  is  by 
no  means  difficult  to  understand,  simply  consist- 
ing of  a  number  of  shafts  and  wheels  revolved  at  a 
constant,  definite  and  regulated  speed  per  minute. 

Not  only  is  it  necessary  to  provide  special 
apparatus  for  twisting  the  cotton  aj;  the  bobbin 
and  fly  frames,  but  also  very  complicated  and 
highly  ingenious  mechanism  for  winding  the 
attenuated  cotton  in  suitable  form  upon  the 


COTTON    PLANT.  Ill 

bobbins.  Indeed  it  is  with  this  very  mechanism 
that  some  of  the  most  difficult  problems  of  cotton 
spinning  machinery  are  associated. 

•  Although  the  cotton  at  this  stage  is  strength- 
ened by  twist,  yet  it  is  extremely  inadvisable  and 
practically  inadmissible  to  insert  more  than  from 
i  to  about  4  twists  per  inch  at  any  of  these  ma- 
chines, so  that  at  the  best  the  rovings  are  still 
very  weak. 

If  too  much  twist  were  inserted  at  any  stage, 
the  drawing  rollers  of  the  immediately  succeeding 
machine  could  not  carry  on  the  attenuating  pro- 
cess satisfactorily. 

This  winding  problem  was  so  difficult  that  it 
absolutely  baffled  the  ingenuity  of  Arkwfight  and 
his  contemporaries  and  immediate  successors,  and 
it  was  not  until  about  1825  that  the  difficulties 
were  solved  by  the  invention  of  the  differential 
winding  motion  by  Mr.  Holdsworth,  a  well-known 
Manchester  spinner,  whose  successors  are  still 
eminent  master  cotton  spinners. 

This  winding  motion  is  still  more  extensively 
used  than  any  other,  although  it  may  be  said  that 
quite  recently  several  new  motions  have  been 
more  or  less  adopted,  whose  design  is  to  displace 
Holdsworth's  motion  by  performing  the  same 
work  in  a  rather  more  satisfactory  manner. 

In  these  pages  no  attempt  whatever  will  be 
made  to  give  a  technical  explanation  of  the 
mechanism  of  the  winding  motion.  It  may  be 
said  that  it  was  a  special  application  of  the  Sun 
and  Planet  motion  originally  utilised  by  Watt  in 
his  Steam  Engine,  for  obtaining  a  rotary  motion 
of  his  fly-wheel. 

Sufficient  be  it  to  say  that  this  "  Differential 
Motion,"  acting  in  conjunction  with  what  are 


112  THE  STORY  OF  THE 

termed  "  Cone  drums,'*  imparts  a  varying  motion 
to  the  bobbins  upon  which  the  cotton  is  wound, 
in  such  a  manner  that  the  rate  of  winding  is  kept 
practically  constant  throughout  the  formation  of 
the  bobbins  of  roving,  although  the  diameters  of 
the  latter  are  constantly  increasing. 

The  spindles  and  bobbins  always  rotate  in  the 
same  direction,  but  while  the  revolutions  per 
minute  of  the  spindles  are  constant,  so  as  to  keep 
the  twist  uniform,  those  of  the  bobbins  are  always 
varying,  in  order  to  compensate  for  their  increas- 
ing diameters  or  thicknesses  of  the  bobbins.  The 
delivery  of  cotton  from  tne  rollers  is  also  constant 
and  the  mechanism  required  to  operate  them  is 
exceedingly  simple. 

A  vast  number  of  details  could  easily  be  added 
•  respecting  the  operations  performed  by  the  bobbin 
and  fly  frames,  but  further  treatment  is  deemed 
unnecessary  in  this  story. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

EARLY    ATTEMPTS    AT    SPINNING,    AND    EARLY 
INVENTORS. 

THERE  can  be  no  better  illustration  of  the  truth 
of  the  old  saying,  that  "  Necessity  is  the  mother 
of  invention,"  than  to  read  the  early  history  of 
the  cotton  manufacture,  and  the  difficulties  under 
which  the  pioneers  of  England's  greatest  industry 
laboured. 

The  middle  years  of  the  eighteenth  century  act 
as  the  watershed  between  the  old  and  the  new  in 
cotton  manufacture,  for  up  to  1760  the  same  type 


COTTON   PLANT.  113 

of  machinery  was  found  in  England  which  had 
existed  in  India  for  centuries.  But  a  change  was 
coming,  and  as  a  greater  demand  arose  for  cotton 
goods,  it  became  absolutely  necessary  to  discover 
some  better  way  of  manipulating  cotton,  in  order 
to  get  off  a  greater  production. 

"  When  inventors  fail  in  their  projects,  no  one 
pities  them;  when  they  succeed,  persecution, 
envy,  and  jealousy  are  their  reward."  So  says 
Baines,  and  it  would  appear,  from  reference  to 
the  history  of  the  cotton  industry,  to  be  only  too 
true.  Certain  it  is,  that  the  early  inventors  of 
the  machinery  for  improving  cotton  spinning  did 
not  reap  the  advantages  which  their  labours  and 
inventions  entitled  them  to.  They  ploughed  and 
sowed,  but  others  reaped. 

Among  the  most  celebrated  of  the  early  in- 
ventors, the  following  stand  out  in  great  pro- 
minence : — John  Kay,  Lewis  Paul,  John  Wyatt, 
Richard  Arkwright,  Thomas  Highs,  James  Har- 
greaves,  and  Samuel  Crompton. 

When  and  how  spinning  originated  no  one  can 
say,  though  it  can  be  traced  back  through  many, 
many  centuries.  Several  nations  claim  to  have 
been  the  first  to  discover  the  art,  but  when  asked 
for  proof  the  initial  stages  are  greatly  obscured 
by  impenetrable  clouds  of  mystery. 

For  example,  the  Egyptians  credit  the  goddess 
Isis  with  the  discovery,  the  Greeks  Minerva,  the 
Chinese  the  Emperor  Yao.  It  is  related  of  Her- 
cules, that,  when  in  love  with  Omphale,  he  debased 
himself  by  taking  the  spindle  and  spinning  a 
thread  at  her  feet.  This  form  of  work  was  con- 
sidered to  belong  only  to  women,  and  by  spinning 
for  her  in  this  position  he  was  thought  to  have 
greatly  humiliated  himself. 


114  THE  STORY  OF  THE 

If  Hercules  were  back  again,  and  could  stand 
between  two  modern  mules  and  see  the  men  and 
boys  engaged  in  spinning  hundreds  of  threads  at 
once,  no  doubt  he  would  wonder,  just  as  we  do  to- 
day at  his  fabled  feats. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  imagine  that  very  early  on 
in  the  world's  history  the  twisting  together  of 
strands  of  wool  and  cotton  would  force  itself 
upon  the  attention  of  the  ancients.  If  the  reader 
will  take  a  little  cotton  wool  in  the  left  hand  and 
by  means  of  the  first  finger  and  thumb  of  the 
right  take  a  few  cotton  fibres  and  gently  twist 
them  together  and  at  the  same  time  draw  the 
thread  formed  outwards,  it  will  be  seen  how  very 
easy  it  is  (from  the  nature  of  the  cotton)  to  form 
a  continuous  thread. 

What  would  very  soon  suggest  itself  would  be 
something  to  which  the  thread,  when  twisted, 
could  be  fastened  and,  according  to  Mr.  Marsden 
(who  supposes  the  first  spinner  to  have  been  a 
shepherd  boy),  a  twig  which  was  close  at  hand 
would  be  the  very  thing  to  which  he  could  attach 
his  twisted  fibres.  He  also  supposes  that,  having 
spun  a  short  length,  the  twig  by  accident  was 
allowed  to  dangle  and  immediately  to  untwist  by 
spinning  round  in  the  reverse  way,  and  ultimately 
fall  to  the  ground. 

He  further  adds,  the  boy  would  argue  to  him- 
self "that  if  this  revolving  twig  could  take  the 
twist  out  by  a  reversion  of  its  movements,  it 
could  be  made  to  put  it  in."  This  would  be  the 
first  spinning  spindle.  The  explanation  is  prob- 
ably not  very  far  wide  of  the  mark. 

A  weighted  twig  or  spindle  would  next  be  used, 
and  as  each  length  of  spun  thread  was  finished, 
it  would  be  wound  on  to  the  spindle  and  fastened. 


COTTON   PLANT.  115 

As  it  would  be  extremely  awkward  to  work  the 
.ibre  up  without  a  proper  supply,  a  bundle  of  this 
was  fastened  to  the  end  of  a  stick  and  carried 
most  probably  under  the  left  arm,  leaving  the 
right  hand  free,  or  in  the  belt,  much  in  the  same 
way  as  is  done  in  some  country  districts  in  the 
North  of  Europe  to-day. 

The  modern  name  for  this  stick  is  Distaff,  a 
word  which  is  derived  from  the  Low  German — 


FIG.  19.  —Twist  put  in  cotton  by  the  hand. 

diesse,  the  bunch  of  flax  on  a  distaff,  and  staff. 
Originally  it  would  be  the  staff  on  which  the  tow 
or  flax  was  fastened,  and  from  which  the  thread 
was  drawn.  The  modern  representative  of  the 
spindle  with  the  twisted  thread  wound  on  it  is 
the  "cop"  and  the  intermittent  actions  of  first 
putting  twist  in  the  thread  and  then  winding  on 
the  spindle,  have  their  exact  counterparts  on  the 
latest  of  the  self-acting  mules  of  to-day. 

It  may  be  interesting  tc  note  that  St.  Distaff's 


Il6  THE   STORY   OF   THE 

Day  is  January  yth,  the  day  after  the  Epiphany, 
a  church  festival  celebrated  in  commemoration  of 
the  visit  of  the  Wise  Men  of  the  East  to  Beth- 
lehem. As  this  marks  the  end  of  the  Christmas 
festival,  work  with  the  distaff  was  commenced, 
hence  the  name,  St.  Distaff's  Day. 

It  is  also  called  "  Rock  Day,"  rock  being 
another  name  for  distaff.  "  Rocking  Day "  in 
Scotland  was  a  feasting  day  when  friends  and 
neighbours  met  together  in  the  early  days  of  the 
New  Year,  to  celebrate  the  end  of  the  Christmas- 
tide  festival. 

The  reign  of  Henry  VII.  is  said  to  have 
witnessed  the  introduction  into  England  of  the 
spindle  and  distaff. 

In  process  of  time,  the  suspended  spindle  was 
superseded  by  one  which  was  driven  by  mechanical 
means.  Over  and  over  again,  the  spindle,  as  it 
lay  upon  the  floor,  must  have  suggested  that  it 
could  be  made  to  work  in  that  position,  viz., 
horizontal.  And  so  comes  now  a  contrivance 
for  holding  the  spindle  in  this  position. 

Mr.  Baines,  in  his  history  of  the  cotton  manu- 
facture, gives  a  figure  of  an  old  Hindoo  spinning 
wheel,  and  it  is  extremely  likely  that  this  very 
form  of  machine  was  the  forerunner  of  the  type 
which  later  on  found  its  way  into  Europe.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  what  was 
known  as  the  Jersey  wheel  came  into  common 
use.  This  machine  is  shown  in  Fig.  20. 

Lying  to  the  left  hand  of  the  woman  in  the 
illustration  is  a  hand  card.  This  consisted  of 
square  board  with  a  handle,  and  was  covered  by 
fine  wire  driven  in,  so  as  to  make  what  was  really 
a  wire  brush.  By  means  of  this,  the  spinner  wras 
enabled  to  prepare  her  cotton,  and  she  did  with 


COTTON    PLANT. 


it  (though  not  nearly  so  well)  what  is  done  by  the 
Carding  Engine  of  to-day,  viz.,  fully  opened  out 
the  fibres  of  cotton  ready  for  spinning.  Having 
taken  the  cotton  from  the  hand  cards,  she  pro- 


FlG.  20. — Jersey  spinning  wheel  (after  Baines). 


duced  at  first  a  very  thick  thread  which  was 
called  a  roving.  This  she  wound  on  a  spindle, 
which  was  afterwards  treated  again  on  the  wheel 
a  second  time,  and  drawn  out  still  more,  and 
then  having  the  twist  put  in,  it  was  made 
much  thinner  into  so-called  yarn.  Only  one 
thread  could  by  this  method  be  dealt  with  at  a 
time  by  one  person,  but  the  main  operations 
carried  out  on  the  old  spinning  wheel  have  their 
exact  reproductions  on  the  mule  of  to-day,  viz. : 
— Drawing,  Twisting  and  Winding. 

But  still  the  process  of  evolution  went  on,  and 


Il8  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

following  quickly  on  the  heels  of  the  Jersey  wheel 
is  the  Saxony  or  Leipsic  wheel.  Here  for  the 
first  time  is  seen  the  combination  of  spindle, 
flyer  and  bobbin. 

This  machine  was  so  arranged  that  by  means 
of  two  grooved  wheels  of  different  diameters,  but 
both  driven  by  the  large  wheel  similar  to  the  one 
in  the  Jersey  wheel,  and  which  was  operated  by 
the  spinner,  two  speeds  were  obtained.  The 
bobbin  was  attached  to  the  smaller,  and  the 
spindle,  to  which  was  fastened  the  flyer  or 
"  Twister,"  was  driven  by  the  larger  of  two 
wheels. 

In  this  form  of  spinning  machine,  then,  there 
were  the  following  operations  performed  : — 

By  the  spindle  and  flyer  both  revolving  at  the 
same  velocity,  the  thread  was  attenuated  and 
twisted  as  it  was  carried  to  the  bobbin.  This 
latter  was,  as  already  named,  driven  by  the 
smaller  of  the  two  wheels  and  had  a  motion 
all  its  own,  though  much  quicker  than  that  of 
the  spindle.  In  this  way  a  bobbin  of  yarn  was 
built  up,  and  the  Saxony  wheel  no  doubt  gave 
many  fruitful  ideas  to  the  inventors  who  ap- 
peared later  on,  and  who,  by  reason  of  their 
research  and  experiment,  evolved  the  fly  frames 
of  to-day ;  this  was  notably  so  in  the  case  of 
Arkwright. 

There  had  been  very  great  opposition  to  the 
introduction  of  cotton  goods  into  England  by 
manufacturers  and  others  interested  in  the  wool 
and  fustian  trade,  and  matters  even  got  so  bad 
that  the  British  Parliament  was  foolish  enough 
to  actually  pass  an  Act  in  1720,  prohibiting  "  the 
use  or  wear  in  Great  Britain,  in  any  garment 
or  apparel  whatsoever,  of  any  printed,  painted, 


COTTON   PLANT.  119 

stained,  or  dyed  calico,  under  the  penalty  of  for- 
feiting to  the  informer  the  sum  of  ^5." 

Just  as  though  this  was  not  sufficiently  severe, 
it  was  also  enacted  that  persons  using  printed  or 
dyed  calico  "  in  or  about  any  bed,  chair,  cushion, 
window-curtain,  or  any  other  sort  of  household 
stuff  or  furniture,"  would  be  fined  ^20,  and  a  like 
amount  was  to  be  paid  by  those  who  sold  the 
stuff. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  whatever,  that  this  Act 
was  designed  to  strike  a  death-blow  at  the  cotton 
industry,  which  at  this  time  was  beginning  to 
make  itself  felt  in  the  commerce  of  the  country. 
A  curious  exception  should  be  mentioned  here. 
Calico,  which  was  all  blue,  was  exempted  from 
the  provisions  of  this  Act,  as  were  also  muslins, 
fustians  and  neck-ties.  However,  in  1736  this 
iniquitous  piece  of  legislation  was  somewhat 
relaxed,  and  Parliament  was*  good  enough  to 
decree  in  the  year  just  named  that  it  would  be 
lawful  for  anyone  to  wear  "  any  sort  of  stuff  made 
of  linen  yarn  and  cotton  wool  manufactured 
and  printed  or  painted  with  any  colour  or  col- 
ours within  the  kingdom  of  Great  Britain,  pro- 
vided that  the  warp  thereof  be  entirely  linen 
yarn." 

Now  as  half  a  loaf  is  better  than  none,  the 
cotton  manufacturers  received  a  direct  impulse 
by  the  partial  removal  of  the  obnoxious  restric- 
tion, and  very  soon  the  supply  was  far  ahead  of 
the  demand. 

Manufacturers  were  crying  out  constantly  for 
more  weight  and  better  stuff,  but  how  by  the 
mechanical  means  at  the  disposal  of  the  spinners 
were  they  to  get  it  ?  Lancashire  historians  say 
that  it  was  no  uncommon  thing  for  weavers  to 


120  THE   STORY   OF  THE 

travel  miles  in  search  of  weft,  and  then  many  of 
them  returned  to  their  looms  with  only  a  quarter 
of  the  amount  they  required. 

Another  cause  which  acted  in  the  direction  of 
increasing  the  demand  for  yarns  and  weft  was  the 
invention  of  the  flying  shuttle  by  John  Kay  about 
1738.  Previous  to  his  time,  the  heavy  shuttles 
containing  the  wefts  were  sent  across  the  looms 
by  two  persons.  Now,  by  his  new  shuttle  he 
dispensed  with  the  services  of  one  of  these 
artisans,  and  by  means  of  his  arrangement  for 
quickly  sending  the  shuttle  along  the  lathe  of  the 
loom,  much  more  cloth  was  produced.  Poor  Kay 
suffered  much  by  the  cruel  persecution  of  his 
countrymen,  who  ignorantly  supposed  that  in 
bringing  his  new  shuttle  to  such  perfection,  they 
would  be  deprived  permanently  of  their  occupa- 
tions, with  nothing  but  starvation  looking  them 
in  the  face.  Of  course,  nothing  could  be  wider 
of  the  truth  than  this,  but  Kay  had  to  flee  his 
country,  and  died  in  poverty  and  obscurity  in  a 
foreign  land.  Still  the  shuttle  continued  to  be 
used,  for  the  makers  of  cloth  had  learned  that 
increased  production  meant  more  work,  and 
possibly  greater  profit,  and  though  Kay  dis- 
appeared, his  works  remained  behind.  The 
demand  for  weft  grew  more  and  more.  It  has 
been  said  that  it  is  the  occasion  which  makes  the 
man,  and  not  man  the  occasion.  It  was  so  in 
this  case,  for  here  was  a  cry  for  some  mechanical 
means  to  be  discovered  for  satisfying  the  ever- 
increasing  demand  for  cotton  weft.  Hitherto 
single  threads  only  had  been  dealt  with  on  the 
spinning  machines,  but  the  same  year  witnessed 
the  introduction  of  an  invention  which  in  a  few 
years  completely  revolutionized  the  spinning 


COTTON   PLANT.  121 

industry,  and  which  enabled  one  worker  to  spin 
hundreds  of  threads  at  once. 

The  year  1738,  which  witnessed  the  birth  of 
Kay's  invention,  also  saw  that  of  Lewis  Paul,  an 
artisan  of  Birmingham.  This  was  a  new  method 
of  spinning  by  means  of  Rollers.  It  should  be  re- 
membered that  this  was 'thirty  years  before  Ark- 
wright  attempted  to  obtain  letters  patent  for  his 
system  of  spinning  by  rollers. 

Most  of  the  readers  of  this  little  book  will 
have  seen  what  is  known  in  domestic  parlance  as 
a  wringing  machine.  Here  the  heavy  wooden 
rollers,  by  means  of  weights  or  screws,  are  made 
to  squeeze  out  most  of  the  moisture  which 
reamains  after  the  garment  has  left  the  washing- 
tub.  Now  if  two  sets  of  such  rollers  could  be  put 
together,  so  that  in  section  the  four  centres  would 
coincide  with  the  four  angular  points  of  a  square, 
and  the  back  pair  could  be  made  to  have  a  greater 
surface  velocity  than  the  front  pair,  this  arrange- 
ment would  give  something  like  the  idea  which 
Paul  had  in  his  mind  at  that  time.  Why  make 
the  back  pair  revolve  at  a  greater  rate  ?  For  this 
reason,  that  as  the  cotton  was  supplied  to  the  front 
pair,  and  passed  on  to  the  second,  remembering 
that  these  are  going  at  a  greater  rate,  it  follows 
that  the  cotton  would  be  drawn  out\n  passing  from 
the  first  to  the  second  pair.  Had  the  rollers  been 
both  going  at  the  same  speeds,  the  cotton  would 
pass  out  as  it  went  in,  unaffected.  Now  it  was 
this  idea  which  Paul  practically  set  out  in  his 
machine.  From  some  reason  or  other,  Paul's 
right  to  this  patent  has  been  often  called  into 
question,  and  up  to  1858  it  was  popularly  sup- 
posed to  have  been  the  sole  invention  of  John 
Wyatt  of  Birmingham.  In  the  year  named,  Mr. 


122  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

Cole,  in.  a  paper  read  before  the  British  Asso- 
ciation, proved  that  Paul  was  the  real  patentee, 
and  established  the  validity  of  his  claim  without 
doubt. 

The  two  distinguishing  features  of  Paul's 
Spinning  Machine  were :  (i)  by  means  of  the 
rollers  and  flyers  he  performed  the  operations 
of  drawing-out  and  twisting,  which  had  hitherto 
been  done  by  the  fingers  and  thumbs  of  the 
spinners;  and  (2)  he  changed  the  position  of 
the  spindle  itself  from  the  horizontal  to  the 
vertical. 

A  glance  at  the  Transactions  of  the  Society 
for  the  Encouragement  of  Arts,  Manufactures  and 
Commerce,  shows  that  this  period  (1760-1770) 
was  most  prolific  of  inventions  specially  relating 
to  the  various  sections  of  the  cotton  industry. 
There  were  "  improved  spinning  wheels,"  "  a 
horizontal  spinning  wheel,"  and  three  other  forms 
of  "  spinning  machines  "  submitted  to  the  above 
society  between  1761  and  1767,  in  the  hope  of 
obtaining  money  grants  in  the  shape  of  premiums, 
which  had  been  offered  to  the  best  inventions  for 
improving  spinning  machinery  in  general. 

The  above  list  does  not  however  contain  any 
reference  to  one  improvement  by  James  Har- 
greaves  of  Blackburn,  Lancashire,  to  which  in 
this  story  special  mention  must  be  made. 

It  appears  that  in  1764  or  1765  this  individual 
had  completed  a  machine  for  spinning  eleven 
threads  simultaneously ;  and  five  years  later  he 
had  developed  the  machine  to  so  perfect  a  state 
that  he  took  out  a  patent  for  it,  from  which  time 
it  became  known  to  the  industrial  world  as  a 
Spinning  Jenny.  His  right  to  the  patent  has 
over  and  over  again  been  challenged,  and  it  has 


COTTON   PLANT.  123 

been  alleged  that  Thomas  Highs  of  Leigh,  also 
in  Lancashire,  was  the  real  inventor.  Baines,  in 
his  "  History  of  the  Cotton  Manufacture/'  is  in- 
clined to  the  view  that  Hargreaves  was  the  first 
to  perfect  the  machine  known  as  the  "  Jenny  " 
(see  Fig.  21). 

From  whatever  point  of  view  Hargreaves'  ma- 
chine is  looked  at,  it  must  be  acknowledged  to  be 
a  decided  step  forward  in  the  direction  of  spinning 
machinery  improvement. 

The  jenny  was  so  unlike  Arkwright's  frame  or 
Paul's,  and  preceded  that  of  the  former  by  some 
years,  that  its  claim  to  originality  can  not  be 
questioned.  How  the  inventor  came  to  produce 
his  machine,  can  not  be  stated,  but  it  is  reported 
that  on  one  occasion  he  saw  a  single  thread  spin- 
ning wheel  which  had  been  accidentally  knocked 
over,  lying  with  the  wheel  and  spindle  free  and 
both  revolving. 

If  the  reader  will  think  for  a  minute  it  will  be 
apparent  that  the  horizontal  position  of  the  spindle 
would  be  changed  to  a  vertical  one,  and  Har- 
greaves argued  if  one  spindle  could  revolve  in 
that  way,  why  should  not  eight  or  any  number  of 
spindles  be  made  to  work  at  the  same  time.  How 
far  he  successfully  worked  out  that  idea  will  be 
seen  if  reference  be  made  to  the  illustration  of  the 
jenny  which  is  shown  in  Fig.  21. 

After  what  has  been  said  under  the  head  of 
Carding,  Drawing,  and  Roving,  it  will  easily  be 
understood  when  it  is  said  that,  unlike  Arkwright's 
Machine,  Hargreaves'  Jenny  could  only  deal  with 
the  cotton  when  in  the  state  of  roving,  and  it  was 
the  roving  which  this  machine  attenuated  and 
twisted  or  spun  into  yarn. 

If  the  reader  will  imagine  he  or  she  is  standing 


124  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

in  front  of  the  jenny,  the  following  description  will 
be  made  much  clearer  : — 

The  rovings,  which  have  previously  been  pre- 
pared, are  each  passed  from  the  bobbins  seen  on 
the  lower  creel,  through  a  number  of  grooves  on 
one  of  the  bars  which  run  across  the  frame,  as  seen 
in  the  illustration.  These  rovings  are  next  passed 


FIG.  21. — Hargreaves'  spinning  jenny  (after  Baines). 


on  to  the  spindles  standing  at  the  back  of  the 
frame  and  secured  to  them.  A  second  bar  in 
front  of  the  one  over  which  the  rovings  pass,  acts 
as  a  brake  and  prevents,  when  in  its  proper  posi- 
tion, any  more  roving  being  delivered,  thus  secur- 
ing all  between  the  spindles  and  the  said  bar.  The 
wheel  which  is  seen  on  the  right  of  the  jenny  com- 
municates with  a  cylinder  by  means  of  a  stfap  or 
rope,  and  this  cylinder  in  turning  gives  circular 
motion  to  the  spindles  which  are  connected  with 
the  cylinder  by  endless  bands.  On  the  spindle  is 


COTTON   PLANT.  125 

the  wharf,  specially  formed  to  allow  the  band  to 
run  without  slipping. 

The  operations  for  a  complete  spinning  *f  one 
delivery  is  described  by  Baines  as  follows : — 

"  A  certain  portion  of  roving  being  extended 
from  the  spindles  to  the  wooden  clasp,  the  clasp 
was  closed,  and  was  then  drawn  along  the  hori- 
zontal frame  to  a  considerable  distance  from  the 
spindles,  by  which  the  threads  were  lengthened 
out,  and  reduced  to  the  proper  tenuity ;  this  w^as 
done  with  the  spinner's  left  hand,  and  his  right 
hand  at  the  same  time  turned  a  wheel  which  caused 
the  spindles  to  revolve  rapily,  and  thus  the  roving 
was  spun  into  yarn.  By  returning  the  clasp  to  its 
first  situation,  and  letting  down  a  presser  wire,  the 
yarn  was  wound  on  the  spindle." 

Hatred  and  jealousy  were  immediately  born 
when  Hargreaves'  splendid  improvement  became 
known,  and,  like  poor  Kay  before  him,  he  had  to 
leave  his  native  soil  and  get  to  some  more  secluded 
spot.  He  ultimately  arrived  in  Nottingham,  set 
at  once  to  accommodate  himself  to  his  new  envi- 
ronment, and  soon  entered  into  partnership  with  a 
Mr.  James,  and  in  1770  took  out  a  patent  for  his 
Jenny.  In  conjunction  with  his  new  partner,  a 
mill  was  built,  said  to  be  one  of  the  first,  if  not  the 
first,  spinning  mill  so  called  in  this  country. 

Though  it  is  stated  by  Arkwright  that  Har- 
greaves died  in  comparative  obscurity  and  poverty, 
others  say  that  this  is  not  so ;  though  he  was  not 
wealthy  the  evidence  is  sufficiently  good  to  believe 
that  he  died  in  moderate  circumstances. 

The  register  of  St.  Mary's  Parish,  Nottingham, 
contains  the  following  entry: — "  1778,  April  22, 
James  Hargraves." 


126  THE   STORY  OF  THE 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

• 

FURTHER    DEVELOPMENTS  —  ARKWRIGHT    AND 
CROMPTON. 

WHATEVER  may  be  said  in  favour  of  other 
spinning  machinery  inventors,  it  is  quite  certain 
that  when  we  put  the  whole  of  them  together,  two 
stand  out  in  greater  prominence  than  any  of  the 
rest,  viz.,  Arkwright  and  Crompton. 

Probably  the  former  did  more  than  any  other 
Englishman  4to  establish  what  is  known  as  the 
Modern  Factory  System.  He  was  not  what  one 
might  call  a  brilliant  man  or  great  inventor,  but  he 
had  the  happy  knack  of  appreciating  and  seizing 
upon  what  he  knew  was  a  good  thing,  and  set  about 
instantly  to  get  all  out  of  it  that  he  could,  and 
there  are  those  who  strongly  affirm  that  he  often 
got  much  more  than  he  was  entitled  to. 

However  that  may  be,  it  can  not  be  denied  that 
he  possessed  eminent  business  qualifications,  and 
these,  coupled  with  other  of  his  qualities,  helped 
to  make  him  exceedingly  successful. 

He  first  saw  the  light  of  day  on  December  23rd, 
1732,  in  Preston,  Lancashire,  twenty-one  years  be- 
fore his  great  rival  and  contemporary,  Samuel 
Crompton.  His  parents  could  not  possibly  afford 
to  give  him  any  schooling,  he  being  the  youngest 
of  thirteen.  Apprenticed  to  the  trade  of  barber, 
he  became  in  time  a  first-rate  man  in  that  business. 
In  1760,  when  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  he  left 
Preston  and  settled  down  in  Bolton  in  Lancashire, 
setting  up  the  business  of  barber  and  peruke- 
maker.  The  youthful  Samuel  Crompton  would 
no  doubt  pay  him  many  visits  when  in  Church- 


COTTON    PLANT.  127 

gate,  and  little  did  he  dream  that  the  head  he  so 
often  would  undoubtedly  use  his  skill  upon  was 
the  one  which  would  evolve  by  and  by  a  machine 
which  would  amaze  the  then  commercial  world  ; 
but  it  was  so.  Another  part  of  Arkwright's  busi- 
ness, that  of  travelling  up  and  down  the  country 
buying  and  selling  human  hair  for  wig-making, 
would  put  him  au  fait  with  almost  every  new  in- 
vention and  idea. 

Richard's  business  card  proves  that  he  believed 
in  advertising  himself  even  as  a  barber. 

Just  about  this  time  there  was  much  excite- 
ment, especially  in  Lancashire,  about  the  marvel- 
lous invention  of  Hargreaves,  the  particulars  of 
which  had  now  become  known  to  the  public. 
One  of  the  first  to  appreciate  the  significance  of 
this  invention  was  Arkwright  himself,  so  that  it 
may  reasonably  be  supposed  that  he  would  in 
good  time  know  all  there  was  to  be  known  of  the 
mechanism  used  by  Hargreaves  in  his  new  method 
of  spinning. 

Later  on,  Arkwright  became  acquainted  with 
a  man  named  Highs  of  Leigh,  another  experi-* 
menter  in  spinning.  The  circle  of  his  acquaint- 
anceship also  included  Kay,  a  clockmaker  of 
Warrington,  who  had  assisted  Highs  on  several 
occasions  in  his  investigations. 

At  this  time  Arkwright's  all-absorbing  hobby 
was  mechanics,  and  first  one  experiment  and  then 
another  was  made  in  rapid  succession.  Needless 
to  say,  his  business  of,  barbering  suffered  in  the 
meanwhile. 

From  the  first  he  turned  his  attention  to  an 
improvement  of  spinning  cotton  by  drawing 
rollers.  His  efforts  were  crowned  with  success, 
and  he  ultimately  blossomed  into  a  knight,  and 


128  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

was  elected  High  Sheriff  of  Derbyshire.  It  is 
rather  singular  that  he  should  be  about  one  of 
the  only  cases  of  those  cotton-machinery  invent- 
ors of  this  age  who  amassed  a  fortune;  most  of 
the  others  being  but  slightly  removed  from  want 
in  their  last  days. 

There  were  many  who  claimed  that  they  were 
the  real  and  original  inventors  of  this  method  of 
spinning  by  rollers,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  to  Arkwright  alone  belongs  the  credit  for 
bringing  these  improvements  to  a  higher  state  of 
perfection  than  they  ever  attained  before. 

At  the  present  time,  roller  drawing  is  the 
great  basis  of  the  operations  of  modern  spinning, 
wherever  performed. 

Not  only  is  this  the  case  in  the  final  stages  of 
production,  but  it  is  especially  true  of  most  of  the 
preparatory  processes,  whether  used  for  the  pro- 
duction of  coarse,  medium  or  fine  yarns. 

As  is  well  known,  the  great  principle  of  draw- 
ing rollers  is,  that  the  cotton  is  passed  through 
three  or  four  pairs  of  rollers  in  quick  succession, 
and  attenuated  by  each  pair  in  turn,  each  pair 
being  made  to  revolve  more  quickly  than  the  pre- 
ceding pair.  This  identical  process  is  repeated 
in  machine  after  machine,  until  finally  the  bulk 
of  cotton  is  reduced  to  a  fine  thread,  of  which,  in 
some  cases,  it  takes  two  or  three  hundred  miles  to 
weigh  one  pound.  Even  in  what  are  termed  me- 
dium numbers  or  counts  of  cotton  yarn,  there  are 
from  fifteen  to  twenty-five  miles  of  thread  in  a 
pound  avoirdupois,  and  more  than  a  thousand 
million  pounds  of  such  yarns  are  spun  annually. 

The  year  1767  found  Arkwright  entirely  ab- 
sorbed in  his  ideas  of  roller  drawing,  and  he  got 
the  clockmaker  Kay  to  journey  with  him  to  Not- 


COTTON    PLANT.  129 

tingham,  possibly  thinking  that  what  had  been 
meted  out  to  other  inventors  in  Lancashire  should 
not  be  repeated  in  his  case.  He  here  collected 
about  him  a  number  of  friends,  moneyed  and 
otherwise,  who  helped  in  his  evolution  of  spinning 
machinery. 

A  man  named  John  Smalley  of  Preston  found 
him  the  wherewithal  to  carry  on  his  experiments 
first  at  Preston  and  later  on  at  Nottingham.  Cer- 
tainly what  he  put  up  at  Nottingham  gave  such 
promise  of  practical  utility,  that  two  experienced 
business  men  were  led  to  join  him  in  partnership, 
and  the  three  of  them,  Need,  Strutt,  and  Ark- 
wright,  very  soon  had  mills  built  in  Nottingham, 
Cromford  and  Matlpck.  The  first-named  mill 
was  worked  by  horses,  the  two  latter  by  water, 
hence  the  common  name  of  water  frame,  given  to 
the  machines  of  Arkwright. 

The  gentlemen  taken  into  partnership  were 
able  and  qualified  to  give  good  sound  advice  and 
help  to  Arkwright,  and  about  the  middle  of  the 
year  1769  he  took  out  a  patent  for  his  "  water 
frame" 

To  use  his  own  words,  in  his  specification  he 
"  had,  by  great  study  and  long  application,  in- 
vented a  new  piece  of  machinery,  never  before 
found  out,  practised  or  used,  for  the  making  of 
weft  or  yarn  from  cotton,  flax,  and  wool  ;  which 
would  be  of  great  utility  to  a  great  many  manu- 
facturers, as  well  as  to  His  Majesty's  subjects  in 
general,  by  employing  a  great  many  poor  people 
in  working  the  said  machinery,  and  by  making 
the  said  weft  or  yarn  much  superior  in  quality  to 
any  heretofore  manufactured  or  made." 

No  useful  purpose  could  be  served  by  repro- 
ducing Arkwright's  description  of  the  machine  in 
9 


130 


THE   STORY   OF   THE 


question,  but  a  picture  of  the  actual  machine  is 
shown  in  Fig.  22. 

The  most  important  feature  of  the   invention, 
of  course,  was  the  drawing  out  or  attenuating  of 


FIG.  22. — Arkwright's  machine  (after  Baines). 

the  cotton  by  rollers  revolving  at  different  speeds. 
But  it  was  also  essential  that  proper  mechanism 
should  be  provided  by  which  twist  would  be  put 
into  the  yarn  to  make  it  sufficiently  strong ;  and 
furthermore,  it  was  necessary  to  arrange  for  the 
attenuated  and  twisted  cotton  to  be  automatically 
guided  and  coiled  up  or  wound  up  into  a  conven- 
ient form.  As  we  have  seen,  the  drawing  out  of 


COTTON   PLANT.  131 

the  cotton  finer  he  accomplished  by  the  Drawing 
Rollers  originally  invented  by  Lewis  Paul,  while 
for  the  latter  purpose  he  successfully  adapted  the 
principle  already  existing  in  the  Saxony  wheel, 
used  in  the  linen  manufacture,  with  which  he 
probably  became  acquainted  during  his  residence 
at  Preston. 

It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  Hargreaves 
had  introduced  into  the  commercial  world  his 
Jenny,  a  few  years  anterior  to  Arkwright's  water 
frame  becoming  so  successful.  These  two  ma- 
chines were  more  or  less  in  rivalry,  but  not  per- 
haps to  that  extent  which  many  would  suppose. 
From  the  very  first  it  was  found  that  the  frame 
of  Arkwright's  was  much  more  suitable  for  warp 
or  twist  yarns,  i.e.,  the  longitudinal  threads  of  a 
cloth,  whereas  Hargreaves'  machine  was  more 
adapted  for  the  production  of  weft  yarns,  i.e.,  the 
transverse  threads  of  a  cloth.  Now  it  cannot  be 
too  strongly  remarked  that,  at  the  present  time, 
after  the  lapse  of  a  century,  the  same  state  of 
things  practically  obtain  in  the  improved  ma- 
chines of  to-day;  Hargreaves'  machine  being 
represented  by  the  system  of  intermittent  spin- 
ning upon  the  improved  self-actor  mule,  while 
Arkwright's  water  frame  is  represented  by  the 
system  of  continuous  spinning  upon  the  modern 
Ring  Spinning  frame.  While  weft  yarn  is  now 
almost  entirely  produced  on 'the  mule,  warp  yarns 
are  in  many  cases  now  obtained  from  the  Ring 
Frames,  this  latter  system  at  the  present  time 
being  greatly  on  the  increase  and  daily  becoming 
more  popular. 

The  Carding  Engine  was  greatly  improved  by 
Arkwright's  many  useful  improvements,  especially 
that  of  the  Doffer  comb,  being  entirely  his  own. 


132  THE    STORY   OF   THE 

The  effect  of  this  comb  is  fully  described  in  the 
chapter  dealing  with  manipulation  of  the  cotton 
by  the  Carding  Engine. 

Paul  was  probably  the  first,  in  1748,  to  invent 
the  Carding  Machine.  His  inventions  seemed  to 
hang  fire  until  introduced  into  Lancashire,  when 
they  were  adopted  by  a  Mr.  Peel,  Arkwright  and 
others.  The  chief  defects,  perhaps,  of  this  ma- 
chine was  the  absence  of  proper  means  for  put- 
ting the  cotton  on  the  revolving  cylinder  and 
having  it  stripped  when  sufficiently  carded.  Hence 
the  great  value  of  Arkwright's  stripping  comb. 

Some  old  Carding  Engines  which  were  used  at 
this  time  are  still  in  existence,  though  only  used 
for  museum  purposes.  As  will  have  been  gathered 
in  a  former  chapter  dealing  with  the  manipulation 
of  the  cotton  in  the  mill,  between  the  Carding 
Engine  and  the  final  process  of  spinning  there  are 
other  and  important  stages  of  preparation,  and  in 
these  it  is  seen  how  in  one  respect  Arkwright's 
method  of  drawing  out  cotton  by  revolving 
rollers  was  immeasurably  superior  to  the  travel- 
ling carriage  of  Hargreaves. 

The  strength  of  a  rope  is  represented  by  its 
weakest  parts,  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  yarn. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  one  of  Arkwright's 
greatest  difficulties  was  to  give  an  uniform  yarn, 
and  though  he  successfully  launched  his  new 
machines  he  felt  there  was  still  much  to  be  done 
in  the  direction  of  remedying  yarn  which  was 
irregular  in  thickness  and  strength.  In  order  to 
do  this,  he  finally  adapted  his  drawing  rollers  to 
what  is  now  the  modern  drawing  frame — a  machine 
quite  as  largely  used,  and  quite  as  necessary  in  pre- 
sent-day spinning,  as  it  was  a  hundred  years  ago. 

It  was  sought  to  make  this  machine  do  two 


COTTON   PLANT.  133 

things,  (i)  Several  slivers  of  cotton  from  the 
Card  were  put  up  together  at  the  back,  and  by 
means  of  four  pairs  of  drawing  rollers  were  re- 
duced to  the  thickness  of  one  sliver  (see  the 
description  in  chapter  vi.).  It  will  be  sufficient  to 
say  here  that  this  method  of  doubling  and  draw- 
ing equalises  the  sliver  of  cotton  by  the  combina- 
tion of  the  thick  places  with  the  thin. 

Doubling  is  now  the  reason  of  the  uniformity 
of  the  yarns  that  are  produced  in  such  large 
quantities. 

(2)  The  Carding  Engine  did  not  by  any  means 
lay  the  fibres  of  cotton  sufficiently  parallel  to  each 
other,  and  this  process  of  parallelisation  was  fully 
accomplished  by  the  front  ends  of  the  fibres  be- 
ing drawn  forward  more  rapidly  than  their  back 
ends  by  the  drawing  rollers  revolving  at  different 
velocities.  Mr.  Baines  says  it  was  common  to 
perform  this  operation  until  the  finished  sliver 
contained  portions  from  several  thousand  carding 
slivers,  but  we  think  he  would  have  been  nearer 
the  marlc  if  he  had  said  several  hundred  ;  although 
the  higher  number  may  be  occasionally  reached. 

Yet  again,  in  order  to  obtain  a  thread  or  yarn 
of  sufficient  fineness,  it  was  found  necessary  to 
to  perform  some  of  the  attenuation  of  the  cotton 
sliver  as  it  left  the  drawing  frame  and  before  it 
reached  the  final  spinning  process.  To  this  end, 
Arkwright  adopted  the  Roving  frame,  in  which  the 
leading  feature  was  again  the  celebrated  drawing 
rollers.  This  machine  made  a  soft  and  moderately 
twisted  strand  or  roving,  and  if  much  twist  had 
been  put  in,  it  would  have  refused  to  draw  out 
finer  at  the  spinning  machine.  Hence  the  means 
provided  by  Arkwright  for  the  twisting  and  wind- 
ing-on  of  the  attenuated  cotton  on  his  spinning 


134  THE   STORY   OF   THE 

frame  were  utterly  inadequate  to  cope  with  the 
soft  loose  roving,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  Arkwnght 
never  did  see  this  problem  satisfactorily  solved. 

He  allowed,  in  his  machine,  the  roving  to  fall 
into  a  rapidly  revolving  can  which  stood  upright; 
the  revolution  imparting  twist  to  the  cotton. 
When  this  can  was  filled,  it  was  carried  to  a  wind- 
ing frame,  by  which  the  roving  was  wound  upon 
bobbins  suitable  for  the  spinning  frame. 

That  Arkwright  was  unscrupulous  in  some  of 
his  dealings  will  soon  be  gathered  if  the  various 
trials  which  he  instituted  to  defend  his  so-called 
patents  be  carefully  read,  though  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted that  he  possessed  a  most  wonderful  busi- 
ness capacity,  and  that  he  worked  early  and  late, 
in  pushing  his  ideas  with  the  most  tireless  energy 
and  determined  perseverance.  A  glimpse  of  the 
nature  of  his  early  struggles  is  obtained  when  it 
is  recorded  that  on  one  occasion  his  wife  broke 
some  of  his  first  rude  models,  under  the  impression 
that  he  would  starve  his  family  by  neglect  of  his 
legitimate  business  of  barber.  So  incensed  at  her 
for  this  was  he,  that  he  ceased  to  live  with  her. 
Such  were  the  defects  of  his  early  education  and 
such  his  determination  to  learn,  that  at  fifty  he 
did  not  think  he  was  too  old  to  begin  English 
grammar,  writing  and  arithmetic. 

That  he  succeeded  in  getting  together  a  large 
fortune  is  now  history.  He  died  at  the  age  of 
sixty  on  the  3rd  August,  1792,  at  Cromford  in 
Derbyshire. 

Samuel  Crompton. — Perhaps  the  greatest  of  the 
cotton-spinning  machinery  inventors  was  Samuel 
Crompton,  who  was  born  a  few  miles  away  from 
Bolton  in  a  delightfully  secluded  and  sylvan  spot, 


COTTON   PLANT.  135 

"Firwood  Fold,"  on  the  3rd  December,  1753. 
No  story  of  the  Cotton  plant  would  be  complete 
without  mention  of  this  individual,  for  wherever 
fine  spinning  machinery  is  practised  there  is  a 
monument  to  the  ingenuity,  the  skill  and  brilliant 
genius  of  Samuel  Crompton.  At  a  very  early  age 
he,  along  with  his  parents,  removed  into  a  much 
larger  house  still  in  existence  and  known  as  "  The 
Hall  ith  Wood."  This  ancient  mansion  stands  on 
a  piece  of  high  rocky  ground  and  is  distant  from 
Bolton  about  i-J  miles.  It  was  in  this  house  that 
he  invented  his  celebrated  machine  which  he 
called  "  A  Mule."  At  the  present  time  one  looks 
in  vain  for  the  Wood,  but  in  the  early  days  of 
Crompton's  tenancy  it  was  surrounded  by  a  great 
number  of  very  fine  trees,  hence  the  name  "  The 
Hall  in  the  Wood  "  or  "  Hall  ith  Wood." 

For  some  reason  the  Hall  is  being  allowed  to 
fall  into  decay,  and  at  the  present  time  is  in  great 
danger  of  collapsing.  Several  attempts  have  been 
made  to  buy  the  place  and  reclaim  as  much  of  it 
as  possible  and  convert  it  into  a  museum,  but  as 
yet  nothing  has  been  done.  It  was  built  at  two 
different  periods  :  one  portion  of  it,  that  of  the 
u  post  and  plaster  work,"  being  built  probably  in 
the  i5t.h  century,  while  the  newer  or  later  portion 
of  stone  was  erected  about  1648,  for  that  date  is 
inscribed  on  the  porch. 

The  inside  does  not  appear  to  have  received 
much  care  or  improvement.  Originally  the  win- 
dows were  much  larger  than  at  present.  Pitt's 
window  tax,  long  since  repealed,  was  the  direct 
cause  for  the  reducing  of  the  windows  from  their 
former  proportions. 

The  illustration  gives  an  excellent  idea  of  its 
present-day  appearance.  The  building  is  always 


136 


THE   STORY  OF  THE 


an  object  of  extreme  interest  to  visitors  to  the 
locality,  presenting  even  now  a  very  picturesque 
appearance. 

Very  soon  after  the  removal  of  the  family  to 
the  Hall  ith  Wood,  Samuel's   father   died.      His 


FIG.  23.— The  Hall  ith  Wood,  where  the  spinning  mule  was 
invented. 

mother,  however,  one  of  the  best  of  women, 
filled  the  duties  of  head  of  the  house  with  much 
success,  and  followed  the  laborious  occupation  of 
farming,  and  in  her  leisure  moments,  did  what 
many  housewives  of  .her  class  did — carded,  spun, 
and  wove,  in  order  to  provide  her  family  and  her- 
self with  a  decent  livelihood. 

She  managed  to  give  what  might  be  termed 
under  the  circumstances  a  most  excellent  and 
practical  education  to  her  son  Samuel ;  and  it 
may  be  here  remarked,  that  in  many  respects  he 


COTTON   PLANT.  137 

was  the  exact  opposite  of  his  predecessor  Ark- 
wright.  The  latter  was  certainly  a  bustling, 
pushing  man  of  business,  while  Crompton  was  a 
born  inventor  and  recluse,  and  be  it  said  also,  as 
big  a  failure,  as  a  business  man,  as  could  be  well 
conceived.  Of  course  Arkwright,  as  is  well  known, 
was  the  opposite  of  this. 

The  early  youth  of  Crompton  was  identified 
with  the  great  progress  in  the  cotton  industry  of 
England,  and,  at  fifteen  or  sixteen  years  of  age, 
he  was  to  be  found  assisting  his  mother  during 
the  daytime,  while  in  the  evenings  he  attended 
night-classes  in  Bolton,  where  he  made  great 
progress  in  mathematics.  He  was  so  good  at 
the  latter  subject  that  he  was  called  "  a  witch  at 
figures." 

It  may  be  taken  as  perfectly  natural  that  a 
man  of  the  character,  training  and  early  associa- 
tions of  Crompton  should  turn  to  invention  in 
connection  with  the  cotton  industry,  especially 
since  the  beginning  of  his  association  with  the 
trade  there  had  always  been  a  scarcity  of  weft 
for  the  loom  which  he  and  his  mother  operated. 

The  continual  efforts  of  English  weavers  of 
that  period  to  produce  fine  cotton  goods  to  com- 
pete with  those  at  that  time  largely  imported 
from  India,  led  to  a  great  demand  for  fine  yarns, 
and  these  the  comparatively  clumsy  fingers  of 
English  spinners  could  not  produce  in  a  manner 
at  all  equal  to  the  delicate  filaments  produced  by 
the  Hindoos. 

Kay's  invention  of  the  fly  shuttle,  and  the 
introduction  by  his  son  of  the  drop-box  in  the 
loom,  had  vastly  increased  the  output  of  the 
loom,  thus  increasing  the  demand  for  weft  and 
warp  to  feed  it. 


138  THE  STORY  OF  THE 

The  inventions  of  Arkwright,  Paul  and  others 
had  certainly  done  much  toward  supplying  this 
demand,  but  in  Crompton's  youth  and  early  man- 
hood the  need  of  suitable  weft  was  greater  than 
ever.  Mrs.  Crompton  was  not  long  in  hearing 
about  the  Jenny  of  Hargreaves,  and  determined 
she  would  get  one  for  her  son  to  work  upon. 
This  she  did,  and  Crompton  very  soon  became 
familiar  with  it  and  produced  upon  it  sufficient 
weft  for  their  own  use.  This  he  continued  to  do 
for  seven  or  eight  years,  although  he  constantly 
had  the  truth  forced  upon  him,  that  the  yarn  he 
was  producing  was  nekher  as  suitable  for  warps 
as  that  from  Arkwright's  water  frame,  nor  at  all 
adapted  for  the  fine  muslins  then  very  much  in 
requisition  for  ladies'  dresses. 

The  manufacture  of  these  muslins  and  of  cot- 
ton quiltings  was  commenced  in  Bolton,  Lan- 
cashire, by  Joseph  Shaw,  when  Crompton  was 
about  ten  years  of  age;  and  from  that  time  up  to 
the  present,  no  town  in  the  world  enjoys  the  same 
reputation  for  this  class  of  goods  as  does  Bolton. 

With  so  contemplative  and  reflective  a  mind 
as  Crompton's,  and  the  many  years  of  constant 
and,  to  a  great  extent,  solitary  occupation  on 
Hargreaves'  Jenny,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at 
that  Crompton's  ingenious  brain  led  him  to  devise 
some  mechanism  for  improving  the  jenny  on  which 
he  worked. 

In  1774,  therefore,  he  began  those  experiments 
which,  after  five  ye^ars  labour,  resulted  in  the  in- 
vention of  the  "  New  Wheel,"  or  "  Muslin  Wheel," 
or  "  Hall  ith  Wood  Wheel,"  as  it  was  variously 
designated.  The  term  "  Mule  "  was  of  later  ap- 
plication, owing  to  its  comprising  the  essential 
features  of  both  Arkwright's  and  Hargreaves'  in- 


COTTON    PLANT.  139 

ventions.  Because  it  was  a  cross  or  com'bination 
of  the  two  it  received  the  name  of  Mule,  by  which 
it  is  known  to-day. 

At  the  very  time  Crompton  perfected  his 
machine  sufficiently  to  give  it  a  practical  test,  the 
Blackburn  spinners  and  weavers  were  going  riot- 
ously about,  smashing  to  pieces  every  jenny  with 
more  than  twenty  spindles,  that  could  be  found  for 
miles  around  the  locality,  so  that  Crompton  took 
elaborate  pains  to  conceal  the  various  parts  of  his 
new  machine  in  the  ceiling  of  his  work-room  at  the 
Hall  ith  Wood  in  order  to  prevent  their  destruction. 

Crompton's  hopes  and  prospects  were  very 
bright  at  this  time,  as  he  had  a  watch  costing  five 
guineas  expressly  made  for  him,  and  just  after 
the  completion  of  his  invention,  he  married  one 
Mary  Pimlott,  at  Bolton  Parish  Church,  i6th  Feb- 
ruary 1780.  He  was  then  but  twenty-seven  years 
of  age,  and  his  great  invention,  destined  to  revo- 
lutionise the  cotton  trade,  was  already  an  accom- 
plished fact  although  practically  a  secret  to  the 
world  at  large. 

When  married,  he  and  his  wife  set  themselves 
assiduously  to  produce  the  finest  strong  yarn 
which  his  machine  was  so  eminently  adapted  to 
spin.  It  did  not  take  long  for  the  good  news  to 
travel  that  fine  yarn  suitable  for  the  production 
of  muslins  was  being  made  at  the  Hall  ith  Wood. 
Hundreds  of  manufacturers  visited  Samuel  to 
purchase,  but  many  more  came  out  of  curiosity, 
if  by  any  means  they  could  see  this  wonderful 
machine.  One  individual  is  said  to  have  hidden 
himself  five  flays  in  the  cockloft  and,  having 
bored  a  hole  through  the  ceiling,  feasted  one  eye 
at  least  by  a  sight  of  the  marvellous  mechanism 
which  Crompton  had  invented. 


140  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

Ballantyne  records  that  as  much  as  145.  per 
pound  was  obtained  for  40*5  yarn;  255.  for  6o's, 
and  for  a  small  quantity  of  8o's,  425.  per  Ib. 

At  the  time  of  writing  the  market  prices 
for  these  are  respectively,  y-fd.,  9fd.,  and  is.  3d. 
per  Ib. 

Crompton,  however,  was  not  permitted  to  en- 
joy his  prosperity  and  monopoly  very  long,  and 
here  again  may  be  noted  the  difference  between 
him  and  Arkwright.  While  the  latter  extorted  the 
full  business  profit  from  his  inventions,  the  former 
suffered  his  ingenious  machine  to  get  out  of  his 
hands  by  promises  not  worth  the  paper  on  which 
they  were  written.  His  invention  was  not  at  all 
adequately  protected  by  patent  rights,  and  a  num- 
ber of  manufacturers  were  allowed  to  use  the  Mule 
on  their  simple  written  promise  to  give  him  some 
remuneration.  Long  afterwards  he  wrote  : 

"At  last  I  consented,  in  hope  of  a  generous 
and  liberal  subscription.  The  consequence  was, 
that  from  many  subscribers,  who  would  not  pay 
the  sums  they  had  set  opposite  their  names,  when 
I  applied  to  them  for  it,  I  got  nothing  but  abusive 
language  given  to  me  to  drive  me  from  them, 
which  was  easily  done,  for  I  never  till  then  could 
think  it  possible  that  any  man  (in  such  situation 
and  circumstances)  could  pretend  one  thing  and 
act  the  direct  opposite.  I  then  found  it  was  pos- 
sible, having  had  proof  positive." 

Another  side  of  Crompton's  character  may  be 
seen  when  it  is  stated  he  was  an  enthusiastic  mu- 
sician, and  earned  is.  6d.  a  night  by  playing  the 
violin  at  the  Bolton  Theatre.  Four  or  five  years 
after  the  invention  was  known,  he  removed  to  the 
township  of  Sharpies,  where  he  occupied  a  farm- 
house called  "  The  Oldhams,"  being  probably  in- 


COTTON    PLANT.  141 

duced  to  take  this  step  in  order  to  secure  greater 
privacy. 

A  few  words  may  very  profitably  be  expended 
at  this  point  in  describing  the  main  features  of  the 
machine  shown  in  Fig.  24. 

It  has  been  remarked  that  Arkwright  had  al- 
ready attained  great  success  in  the  production  of 


FIG.  24. — Crompton's  spinning  mule. 

yarn  by  the  extensive  application  of  the  principle 
of  pulling  out  the  cotton  by  drawing  rollers.  Har- 
greaves  had  also  shown  how  to  produce  a  thread 
by  attenuating  the  cotton  by  means  of  a  travelling 
carriage. 

Crompton,  however,  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
present  system  of  mule  spinning  by  combining  the 
essential  features  of  the  two  machines  and  blend- 
ing them  into  one. 

He  applied  the  principle  of  roller  drawing  in 
order  to  first  attenuate  the  cottonj  and  he  utilised 
the  travelling  carriage  as  a  reserve  power  with 


142  THE  STORY   OF  THE 

which  to  improve  the  quality  of  the  thread  and 
draw  it  out  finer. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  his  travelling  car- 
riage was  identical  with  that  of  Hargreaves.  On 
the  contrary,  it  was  a  vast  improvement  upon  it. 
Crompton  put  the  twisting  spindles  into  the  trav- 
elling carriage  and  the  roving  bobbins  he  trans- 
ferred to  a  fixed  creel,  and  these  conditions  are 
invariably  to  be  found  in  the  self-actor  spinning 
mule  of  to-day. 

In  Hargreaves'  machine  the  rovings  were 
placed  on  the  travelling  carriage,  and  the  twist- 
ing spindles  in  the  fixed  frame  behind,  a  position 
which  has  never  been  acceptable  since  that  time 
for  cotton-spinning  mules.  Here,  however,  a  word 
may  be  said  in  favour  of  Hargreaves'  disposition 
of  the  parts  mentioned.  The  Jenny  did  not  con- 
tain any  heavy  drawing  rollers  and  roller  beams, 
and  it  was  probably  best  in  his  machine  to  have 
his  crude  roving  creel  to  traverse  and  the  twisting 
spindles  to  be  in  a  fixed  frame. 

This  disposition  of  the  parts  is  even  now  to  be 
found  in  most  Twiner  Mules,  that  is,  mules  used 
to  double  two  or  more  single  threads  together 
without  any  process  of  drawing  being  applied  to. 
the  cotton. 

When  Crompton  applied  the  principle  of  draw- 
ing rollers,  his  ingenious  mind  saw  that  it  would 
be  best  to  let  the  rollers,  roller  beam,  and  roving 
creel  be  in  a  fixed  framework, on  account  of  their 
combined  weight  and  size,  making  it  very  difficult 
to  move  them  about. 

Crompton's  great  idea  seems  to  have  been  to 
produce  a  better  thread  by  his  machine  than  could 
be  given  by  other  machines,  and  in  this  he  admi- 
rably succeeded. 


COTTON    PLANT.  143 

The  mule  being  set  in  motion,  the  rollers  first 
attenuated  and  then  delivered  the  cotton  to  the 
spindle  carriage.  The  latter,  by  the  action  of  the 
hand  and  knee,  was  made  to  recede  from  the  roll- 
ers just  about  'as  fast  as  the  cotton  was  delivered 
to  the  spindles,  or  possibly  at  a  rather  quicker 
rate.  Then,  while  the  thread  was  still  in  a  soft 
state,  the  rollers  could  be  stopped  and  the  threads 
pulled  still  finer  by  the  continued  recession  of  the 
spindle  carriage  from  the  rollers.  Afterwards, 
when  that  length  of  thread  was  fully  made,  it 
wound  on  the  spindles,  and  the  carriage  at  the 
same  time  returned  to  the  roller  beam. 

Thus  each  portion  of  thread  was  first  subjected 
to  the  action  of  drawing  rollers,,  as  in  Arkwright's 
machine2  and  then  drawn  still  finer  by  the  with- 
drawal of  the  travelling  carriage,  as  in  Hargreaves' 
Jenny. 

Shortly  after  Crompton's  invention  was  given 
to  the  public,  it  began  to  be  improved  in  various 
ways.  Henry  Stones,  a  mechanic  of  Horwich, 
near  Bolton,  substituted  metal  drawing  rollers 
for  Crompton's  crude  wooden  rollers,  doubtless 
copying  the  idea  from  Arkwright's  water  frame. 

All  the  mules  employed  at  first  were  necessarily 
short ;  by  that  is  meant  they  contained  but  few 
spindles,  often  40  or  50  spindles.  The  biggest 
mule  in  Bolton  in  1786  was  said  to  contain  100 
spindles.  The  preparation  of  the  rovings  for  the 
mule  about  this  time  occupied  the  attention  of 
Crompton,  and  he  invented  a  Carding  Engine 
which,  however,  did  not  attain  very  much  success. 
Indeed  it  is  said  that  one  day  so  incensed  was 
Crompton  at  the  way  he  had  been  treated  on  ac- 
count of  his  mule,  that  he  took  an  axe  and 
smashed  his  engine  to  pieces. 


144  THE   STORY   OF   THE 

In  1791  Crompton  established  a  small  manu- 
factory in  King  Street,  off  Deansgate,  in  Bolton. 

In  1800  a  subscription,  promoted  mainly  by 
Manchester  gentlemen,  resulted  in  ^500  being 
handed  over  to  Crompton,  one  of  the  contributors 
for  thirty  guineas  being  the  son  of  Sir  R.  Ark- 
wright.  With  this  money  he  was  enabled  to  en- 
large his  business  somewhat — one  of  his  new  mules 
containing  upwards  of  360  spindles  and  another 
220  spindles.  The  mul.es  were  worked  for  many 
years,  in  fact,  up  to  the  sixties,  when  they  passed 
into  the  hands  of  Messrs.  Dobson  &  Barlow,  the 
eminent  cotton  machinists  of  Bolton.  One  of  the 
mules  made  by  Crompton  is  shown  in  Fig.  24. 

In  the  early  part  of  1812  an  agitation  for  a 
government  grant  in  recognition  of  Crompton's 
work  made  great  progress.  Mr.  Perceval,  the 
then  Prime  Minister,  was  proceeding  to  the  House 
of  Commons  to  move  that  a  grant  of  ^20,000  be 
made  to  Crompton,  when  he  was  shot  by  an 
assassin  named  Bellingham.  There  is  no  doubt, 
had  this  disastrous  affair  never  happened  and 
Perceval  made  his  proposal,  a  grant  much  larger 
than  was  actually  voted  (^5000)  would  have 
been  made. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  this  grant  was  alto- 
gether inadequate,  seeing  that  larger  sums  had 
been  voted  to  other  investigators  and  inventors 
about  this  time. 

Owing  to  his  lack  of  business  ability,  and  to 
ill  fortune  combined,  poor  Crompton  did  not  get 
out  of  this  money  what  he  might  have  done.  Sev- 
eral ventures  turned  out  altogether  very  differ- 
ently than  he  expected.  He  became  poorer  and 
poorer,  and  was  only  protected  from  absolute 
want  by  subscriptions  and  assistance  provided  by 


COTTON   PLANT. 


his  true  friends  in  the  trade,  notably  Mr.  Kennedy, 
a  Manchester  manufacturer. 

At    the   age  of  74  he  died,   26th  June,    1827. 
He   was    interred  in   Bolton   Parish   Churchyard, 


FlG.  25.— Portrait  of  Samuel  Crompton. 
(By  the  kind  permission  of  W.  Agnew  &*  Son,  Ma 


Manchester. ) 

where  a  plain  granite  tomb  sets  forth  the  follow- 
ing :— "  SamWl  Crompton  of  Hall  ith  Wood,  In- 
ventor of  the  Mule,  born  3rd  December,  1753, 
died  26th  June,  1827." 


146  THE   STORY   OF   THE 

A  noble  monument  of  him  is  to  be  found 
standing  on  Nelson  Square,  Bolton,  in  front  of 
the  General  Post  Office. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE    MODERN    SPINNING    MULE. 

The  Self-Actor  Mule. — In  the  preceding  chapter 
there  has  been  detailed  the  particulars  of  the 
invention  of  the  "  Mule  "  by  Samuel  Crompton. 
Since  that  event  the  mule  has  been  the  object  of 
over  a  century  of  constant  and  uninterrupted  im- 
provement and  development,  especially  in  the 
details  of  greater  or  less  importance. 

The  Self-Actor  Mule  of  to-day  represents  and 
embodies  the  inventions  of  hundreds  of  the  most 
intelligent  men  ever  connected  with  any  industry 
in  the  world's  history.  It  is  universally  acknowl- 
edged to  be  one  oi  the  most  wonderful  and  use- 
ful machines  ever  used.  The  actual  operations 
of  making  a  thread  are  however  practically  as  left 
by  Samuel  Crompton  over  a  hundred  years  ago. 
It  is  only  in  details  of  mechanism  involved  in 
making  the 'various  operations  more  perfectly 
automatic,  and  of  greater  size  and  productive- 
ness, that  the  long  line  of  inventors  since  Cromp- 
ton's  first  mule  was  made,  has  been  engaged. 

To-day,  such  is  the  great  size  and  wonder- 
fully perfect  automatic  action  of  these  machines, 
that  they  are  found  120  feet  long,  while  in  width, 
over  all,  they  may  be  9  or  10  feet.  Such  a  mule 
of  this  length  would  contain  over  1300  spindles, 
each  spinning  and  winding  64  inches  of  thread  in 


COTTON   PLANT.  147 

about  15  seconds,  and  one  man  with  two  youths 
would  be  sufficient  to  give  all  the  attention  such 
a  machine  required. 

Independently  of  a  vast  number  of  inventors 
of  smaller  importance,  there  are  several  names 
which  stand  out  in  greater  prominence  in  the 
history  of  the  developments  of -the  mule.  Among 
these  names  must  certainly  be  placed,  ahead  of 
any  others  that  might  be  named,  that  of  Richard 
Roberts  of  Manchester,  who  succeeded  in  1830, 
after  about  five  years'  application,  in  making  the 
mule  self-acting. 

A  good  number  of  ingenious  individuals  had 
contributed  more  or  less  to  this  result  between 
the  dates  of  Crompton's  and  Roberts'  inventions, 
and  doubtless  the  results  of  the  labours  of  these 
would  be  of  great  service  to  Roberts  in  his  great 
task. 

Indeed,  several  inventors  had  previously 
brought  out  what  might  be  termed  self-action 
mules,  but  it  remained  for  Roberts  to  endow  it 
with  that  constant  and  automatic  motion  which 
obtains  to-day  in  practically  the  same  form  as  left 
by  him. 

The  special  portion  of  mechanism  with  which 
his  name  is  more  especially  identified,  is  what  is 
denominated  the  "Quadrant."  This  is  practi- 
cally the  fourth  part  of  a  large  wheel,  which  is 
so  arranged  and  connected  that  it  performs 
almost  exactly  the  same  functions  on  a  mule 
that  Holdsworth's  differential  motion  performs 
on  the  bobbin  and  fly  frames. 

To  look  at  it,  one  would  imagine  it  to  be — 
what  it  really  is — one  of  the  simplest  pieces  of 
mechanism  possible,  yet  the  actions  performed 
by  it  are  complex  and  beautiful  in  the  extreme. 


148 


THE  STORY  OF  THE 


Later  on,  these  actions  of  the  Quadrant  will  be 
carefully  examined. 

The  self-actor  mule  is  an  intermittent  spinning 
machine,  /.  <?.,  it  is  not  continuous  in  action,  as  are 


FIG.  26. — Mule  head  showing  quadrant. 

most  machines  used  in  the  making  of  thread  or 
yarn  from  the  fibrous  product  of  the  Cotton  plant. 
Take  for  instance  the  Carding  Engine,  and  the 
bobbin  and  fly  frames,  as  previously  described. 
So  long  as  these  machines  are  working,  practi- 
cally all  of  the  acting  parts  of  the  mechanism 
have  a  continuous  forward  motion. 


COTTON    PLANT.  149 

This  is  by  no  means  the  case  with  the  machine 
now  under  consideration,  as  many  of  the  more 
important  and  principal  parts  move  alternately 
in  opposite  directions,  while  other  of  the  less 
important  may  revolve  at  one  time,  and  be  sta- 
tionary at  another. 

What  are  called  the  medium  counts  of  yarn 
contain  say  from  30  to  50  hanks  in  one  pound 
avoirdupois  ;  a  cotton  hank  being  equal  to  840 
yards,  so  that  one  pound  of  40'$  yarn  will  contain 
no  less  than  40  x  840  yards  or  33.600. 

For  such  yarns  as  these,  a  modern  self-actor 
mule  would  probably  go  through  its  cycle  of 
movements  four  times  per  minute.  For  coarser 
or  thicker  yarns  this  speed  might  be  increased, 
while  for  finer  and  better  qualities  of  yarn  the 
speed  would  be  diminished. 

Now  as  each  succeeding  "  stretch  "  marks  a 
complete  cycle  of  movements  and  is  a  repetition 
of  others,  it  will  probably  suffice  if  a  brief  non- 
technical description  of  one  of  these  "  stretches  " 
or  "  draws,"  as  they  are  termed  in  mill  parlance, 
be  given. 

As  in  the  bobbin  and  fly  frames,  the  bobbins 
containing  the  rovings  of  cotton  to  be  operated 
upon,  are  placed  behind  the  mules  on  skewers 
fitted  in  a  suitable  framework  of  wood  and  iron 
called  "creels,"  so  as  to  allow  the  cotton  to  be 
easily  pulled  off  and  unwound  without  breaking. 
These  rovings  are  guided  to  and  drawn  through 
three  pairs  of  drawing  rollers  (see  Fig.  27),  which 
shows  this  very  fully. 

The  chief  difference  between  these  rollers  and 
those  of  the  previously  described  machines  being 
in  the  lessened  diameters  of  the  mule  rollers,  and 
consequently  attenuating  the  cotton  to  a  much 


THE   STORY   OF  THE 


COTTON   PLANT.  151 

greater  extent.  It  is  a  truism  well  understood  by 
those  in  the  trade,  that  the  finer  the  rovings  are 
the  better  the  raw  cotton  must  be,  and  the  more 
drawing-out  they  will  stand  in  any  one  machine. 
One  inch  of  roving  put  up  behind  the  rollers  of  a 
mule  spinning  medium  numbers  would  probably 
be  drawn  out  into  9  inches. 

Nothing  more  need  be  said  here  about  the  ac-* 
tion  of  the  drawing  rollers. 

As  the  attenuated  rovings  leave  the  roller  at 
the  front,  each  one  is  conducted  down  to  a  spindle 
revolving  at  a  high  rate  of  speed  ;  so  quickly  in- 
deed, that  there  is  no  other  body  used  in  spinning 
which  approaches  it  for  speed. 

It  is  quite  a  usual  practice  to  have  them 
making  about  8000  revolutions  per  minute,  and 
sometimes  a  speed  of  10,000  is  attained  by  them. 

Assuming  that  a  "  Cop  "  of  yarn  (see  Fig. 
27),  showing  the  cops  on  the  spindles,  has  been 
partly  made  upon  each  spindle,  the  roving  or 
thread  from  the  rollers  would  extend  down  to 
the  cop  and  be  coiled  round  the  spindle  up- 
wards up  to  the  apex.  The  spindle  would  prob- 
ably twist  the  thread  for  40*5  counts  twenty-three 
or  twenty-four  times  for  each  inch  that  issued 
from  the  rollers,  there  being  a  well-recognised 
scale  of  "  twists  per  inch  "  for  various  sorts  and 
degrees  of  fineness  of  yarn. 

Unlike  the  bobbin  and  fly  frames,  the  roving 
or  yarn  is  not  wound  on  its  cop  or  spindle  as  it 
is  delivered,  but  a  certain  definite  and  regulated 
length  of  cotton  is  given  out  to  each  spindle,  and 
fully  twisted  and  attenuated  before  it  is  wound 
into  a  suitable  shape  for  transit  and  for  subse- 
quent treatment. 

To  keep  each  thread  in  tens'ion,  therefore,  as 


152  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

it  is  delivered  from  the  rollers,  the  carriage  con- 
taining the  twisting  spindles  is  made  to  recede 
quickly  away  from  the  rollers,  a  common  distance 
for  such  movement  being  64  inches.  All  the 
time  the  spindles  are  quickly  revolving  and 
putting  twist  into  the  rovings,  thus  imparting 
strength  to  them  to  a  far  greater  degree  than 
at  any  previous  stage.  Often  the  carriage  is 
made  to  recede  from  the  rollers  a  little  quicker 
than  the  latter,  the  difference  in  the  surface 
speeds  between  the  two  being  technically  known 
as  "gain"  The  object  of  this  carriage  "  gain  " 
is  to  improve  the  "evenness"  of  the  yarn  by 
drawing  out  any  thick  soft  places  there  may  be 
in  the  length  of  thread  between  each  spindle 
and  the  roller,  a  distance  of  64  inches.  It  is  a 
property  of  the  twist  that  it  will  run  much  more 
readily  into  the  thinner  portions  of  thread  than 
the  thicker,  thus  leaving  the  latter  capable  of 
stretching  out  without  breaking. 

Arrived  at  the  limit  of  64  inches  stretch  (see 
Fig.  27),  certain  rods,  levers,  wheels  and  springs 
are  so  actuated  that  the  parts  which  draw  out 
the  carriage  and  cause  the  rollers  to  revolve  are 
disconnected,  so  that  both  are  brought  to  a  stand- 
still for  the  moment. 

In  many  cases  the  spindles  at  this  stage  are 
kept  on  revolving  in  order  to  put  in  any  twist 
that  may  be  lacking  in  any  portion  of  the 
stretch. 

Twisting  being  finished,  the  important  opera- 
tion of  "  backing  off  "  commences. 

It  may  be  at  once  explained  that  "  backing 
off  "  means  the  reversing  of  the  spindles ;  the  un- 
coiling of  a  portion  of  the  yarn  from  the  spin- 
dles;  and  generally  putting  all  the  requisite 


COTTON   PLANT.  153 

apparatus  into  position  ready  for  winding  or 
coiling  the  attenuated  and  twisted  rovings  upon 
the  spindles. 

Here  come  now  into  action  those  most  beau- 
tiful and  ingenious  applications  of  mechanical 
principles,  the  working  out  of  which  entailed  so 
many  years  of  arduous  effort,  and  which  ren- 
dered the  mule  practically  self-acting  and  auto- 
matic. 

By  a  most  wonderful,  intricate  and  clever 
combination  of  levers,  wheels,  pulleys  and 
springs,  aided  by  what  is  called  a  "  friction 
clutch,"  the  instant  the  spindles  have  ceased 
twisting  the  yarn,  they  are  reversed  in  direction 
of  revolution. 

This  reversal  only  occupies  two  or  three 
seconds,  and  as  the  motion  imparted  to  the 
spindles  is  very  slow  at  this  stage,  the  practical 
effect  is,  that  a  small  portion  of  yarn  is  "  un- 
coiled" from  each  spindle,  sufficient  to  allow  of 
two  "  guide  wires  "  to  assume  proper  and  neces- 
sary' positions  for  winding  the  attenuated  threads 
upon  the  spindles. 

These  two  wires  are  termed  "  faller  wires," 
and  while  one  is  controlled  by  the  cop-shaping 
mechanism  and  termed  the  ''winding  faller 
wire  "  the  other  simply  keeps  the  threads  in  the 
requisite  state  of  tension  during  "  winding  on  " 
and  is  termed  the  "  counter  "  or  "  tension  faller 
wire."  Both  these  wires  can  be  seen  in  Fig.  28. 
During  backing  off,  the  "  winding  faller  wire  " 
has  a  descending  motion,  while  the  "  counter 
faller"  has  an  ascending  motion,  these  being 
necessary  for  them  to  attain  their  proper  posi- 
tions for  "  winding  on." 

The   movement    of    these    faller   wires    into 


154 


THE   STORY   OF  THE 


COTTON   PLANT.  155 

proper  position,  and  the  uncoiling  of  a  small 
portion  of  yarn  from  each  spindle,  are  both 
brought  about  by  the  "  backing  off  "  motion, 
which  formed  an  important  -part  of  Roberts' 
Mule.  It  may  be  remarked,  however,  that  cer- 
tain of  the  predecessors  of  Roberts  had  made 
great  efforts  in  this  direction,  thus  making  the 
way  much  easier  for  his  applications,  which  were 
entirely  successful.  When  "  backing  off  "  is  com- 
pleted, all  the  necessary  parts  are  in  position  for 
winding  the  64  inches  of  thread  just  given  out 
upon  each  spindle. 

This  practically  involves  three  primary  and 
most  important  operations,  (i)  The  drawing- 
in  of  the  carriage  back  to  its  original  position. 
(2)  The  revolution  of  the  spindles  at  a  speed 
suitable  for  winding  the  threads  upon  the 
spindles  as  the  carriage  moves  inwards.  (3) 
The  guiding  of  the  threads  upon  the  spindles 
in  such  a  manner  that  a  cop  of  yarn  will 
eventually  be  formed  upon  each  spindle,  of 
such  dimensions  and  shape  as  to  be  quite  suit- 
able for  any  subsequent  processes  or  handling. 

Taking  these  three  important  divisions  in  the 
order  given,  it  may  be  said  that  the  drawing-in  of 
the  carriage  is  effected  through  the  medium  of 
the  "  scroll "  bands,  which  are  attached  to  the 
carriage  at  one  end,  and  to  certain  spiral  scrolls 
or  fusees  at  the  other  end.  The  scrolls  being 
revolved,  wind  the  cords  or  bands  round  them, 
so  pulling  in  the  carriage.  There  are  usually 
two  back  scroll  bands  and  one  front  band,  the 
latter  being  a  sort  of  check  band  upon  the  action 
of  the  other  two.  What  is  termed  the  "  rim 
band  "  revolves  the  spindles  during  the  outward 

traverse  of  the  carriage. 

' 

X 


156  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

The  drawing-in  of  the  carriage  in  a  sense  causes 
the  other  two  operations  to  be  performed.  With 
respect  to  the  second  of  these,  viz.,  revolving 
the  spindles  and  thus  winding  the  threads  upon 
them,  it  may  be  said  this  action  causes  what  is 
termed  the  "Winding  Chain  "to  pull  off  a  small 
drum  of  six  inches  diameter,  thus  rotating  the 
latter  and  thereby  the  spindles.  Here,  however, 
comes  in  now  the  action  of  the  very  beautiful  and 
effective  piece  of  mechanism,  "  Roberts'  quadrant  " 
(see  Fig.  26).  The  winding  chain  just  mentioned 
is  attached  to  one  extremity  to  the  arm  of  the 
quadrant,  and  the  peculiar  manner  in  which  the 
quadrant  moves  in  relation  to  the  winding  drum 
gives  the  variable  motion  to  the  spindles  that  is 
required. 

When  commencing  a  new  set  of  cops  it  may 
take  about  eighty  revolutions  of  the  spindles  to 
wind  on  the  64  inches  of  thread  to  each  spindle, 
representing  one  stretch.  The  bare  spindle  may 
be  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  but  it 
may  finally  attain  a  diameter  of  an  inch  and  a 
quarter  (*>.,  the  cop  upon  the  spindle).  This  cop 
will  only  require  about  twenty  revolutions  to  wind 
on  the  64  inches,  which  are  only  one-fourth  of  the 
revolutions  necessary  for  the  empty  spindles.  It 
is  the  action  of  the  quadrant  which  gives  this 
variation  in  speed  to  the  spindles  during  winding- 
on. 

But  as  has  been  pointed  out  previously,  the 
quadrant  imparts  a  "  differential  winding  "  motion 
to  the  spindles  in  two  distinct  and  different  ways, 
and  the  second  motion  is  even  more  important 
than  the  first. 

It  is  necessary  for  practical  purposes  that  the 
cop  of  yarn  should  be  built  up  of  a  conical  shape  in 


COTTON    PLANT.  157 

the  upper  part,  as  shown  in  the  illustration.  Now 
it  must  be  obvious  to  the  least  technical  of  the 
readers  of  this  story,  that  to  wind  a  given  portion 
of  yarn  upon  the  thin  apex  of  a  cone,  will  require 
a  greater  number  of  revolutions  than  would  be 
necessary  to  wind  the  same  length  of  yarn  upon 
the  base  of  the  same  cop.  All  the  way  between 
the  apex  and  the  base  of  the  cone  are  also 
other  varying  diameters,  and  during  each  return 
movement  of  the  mule  carriage  the  thread  is 
wound  upon  all  the  varying  diameters  of  the  cone 
in  succession. 

This  implies  the  necessity  for  the  revolutions 
of  the  spindles  to  a  varying  quantity  all  the  time 
of  the  return  or  inward  movement  of  the  spindle 
carriage. 

The  quadrant  gives  this  varying  speed  in  a 
manner  which  is  all  but  mathematically  correct, 
any  slight  deviation  from  any  such  mathematical 
correctness  being  easily  compensated  for  in  other 
ways. 

For  the  specific  manner  in  which  this  quadrant 
works,  the  reader  is  referred  to  any  of  the  recent 
text-books  on  cotton  spinning. 

The  third  primary  and  important  operation, 
which  takes  place  during  each  return  movement 
of  the  carriage,  is  the  guiding  of  the  thread  upon 
the  spindles  in  a  correct  manner.  This  operation 
is  closely  associated,  however,  with  the  action  of 
the  quadrant. 

That  portion  of  a  "  self-actor  mule "  which 
guides  the  faller  wires  is  termed  the  "  shaper  "  or 
"  copping  motion "  It  consists  of  an  inclined 
iron  rail  upon  the  upper  smooth  surface  of  which 
slides  the  "  copping  bowl,"  this  being  a  portion 
of  the  mechanism  which  connects  the  rail  with  the 


158  THE   STORY   OF   THE 

faller  wires.  The  rail  rests  upon  suitable  inclines 
termed  "  copping  plates,"  whose  duty  it  is  to 
regulate  the  movement  of  the  rail  so  as  to  allow 
for  the  ever-increasing  dimensions  of  the  cop 
during  the  building  process.  When  the  carriage 
again  reaches  its  initial  position,  suitable  mechan- 
ism causes  all  the  parts  to  return  in  the  position 
required  for  spinning. 

Such  is  the  complete  cycle  of  movements  of 
the  "  mule,"  each  succeeding  cycle  being  simply  a 
repetition  of  the  preceding.  It  will  probably  take 
such  a  mule  as  the  one  described  about  six  hours 
to  make  a  "  set  of  cops,"  />.,  one  on  each  spindle, 
each  cop  being  ij  inches  in  diameter  and  7^ 
inches  long.  Every  fifteen  seconds,  while  the 
mule  is  making  a  cycle  of  its  movements,  may  be 
divided  up  approximately  as  follows :  nine  seconds 
for  the  drawing-out  and  twisting  ;  two  seconds  for 
backing-off;  four  seconds  for  winding-6n  and 
resuming  initial  position. 

A  multitude  of  minor  motions  and  details 
might  be  easily  expanded  into  several  chapters;  in 
fact,  more  can  be  said  about  the  mule  than  about 
any  other  spinning  machine,  but  such  detailed 
description  would  be  out  of  place  in  this  story. 

All  the  motions  just  named  are  centred  in  what 
is  termed  the  "  Head  Stock,"  this  being  placed 
midway  in  the  length  of  the  mule. 

This  head  stock  receives  all  the  power  to  drive 
the  various  motions,  from  the  shafting  and  gear- 
ing, and  distributes  it  in  a  suitable  manner  to 
various  parts  of  the  machine. 

It  will  have  been  observed  by  this  time,  that, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  bobbin  and  fly  frames,  the 
intricate  and  wonderful  mechanism  of  the  self- 
actor  mule  is  not  devoted  to  the  formation  of 


COTTON    PLANT. 


160  THE   STORY   OF   THE 

threads,  but  to  the  effective  and  economical  plac- 
ing of  the  threads  of  yarn,  in  the  form  of  cops, 
after  it  has  been  spun. 

The  spinning  processes  take  place  during  the 
outward  traverse  of  the  mule  carriage,  the  mech- 
anism involved  in  this  motion  being  comparatively 
simple.  The  really  complicated  and  difficult 
motions  being  "backing-off,"  revolving  the  spindles 
u  during  winding-on,"  and  the  guiding  of  the  spun 
threads  upon  the  spindles  during  the  winding-on 
process.  It  was  the  addition  of  these  three 
motions  by  the  later  inventors  which  gave  the 
mule  the  title  of  "  Self- Acting." 


CHAPTER   X. 

OTHER    PROCESSES    IN    COTTON    SPINNING. 

The  Ring  Spinning  Machine.  —  In  a  former 
chapter  it  was  shown  how  within  the  space  of  two 
decades  the  three  rival  spinning  machines  of 
Hargreaves,  Arkwright  and  Crompton  were  intro- 
duced, also  it  was  pointed  out,  that  Crompton's 
machines  contained  the  best  points  of  both  of  his 
predecessors.  The  mule  did  not  immediately  be- 
come the  sole  spinning  machine.  From  the  out 
set  there  was  a  close  contest  between  the  continu- 
ous spinning  machine  of  Arkwright  and  the 
intermittent  spinning  machine  of  Crompton.  It 
was  not  long,  however,  before  the  mule  asserted 
its  superiority  over  the  water  frame  for  fine  muslin 
yarns,  and  for  weft  yarris.  Eventually  the  water 
frame  was  relegated  to  the  production  of  strong 
warp  yarns,  and  later  still  it  has  come  to  be 


COTTON    PLANT, 


161 


162  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

largely  utilised  as  a  doubling  machine.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  it  is  contended  by  experts  of  the  pres- 
ent day,  that  no  machine  ever  made  a  rounder  and 
more  solid  thread  than  the  water  frame,  or  flyer- 
throstle,  as  it  has  been  called  in  its  improved  form. 

During  the  last  thirty  years,  a  revolution  prac- 
tically in  cotton  spinning  has  been  gradually 
brought  about,  and  even  to-day  active  develop- 
ments are  to  be  seen.  The  continuous  system  of 
spinning,  which  for  a  time  had  to  take  a  second 
place,  now  appears  to  be  again  forging  ahead,  and 
looks  as  though  it  would  supersede  its  more  pon- 
derous rival.  Especially  in  countries  outside 
England  is  this  the  case,  for  it  is  found  that  the 
method  of  ring  spinning  preponderates,  and  even 
in  England  the  number  of  spindles  devoted  to 
continuous  spinning  is  constantly  increasing. 

This  change  has  chiefly  been  brought  about  by 
what  may  be  termed  a  revolution  in  the  winding 
and  twisting  mechanism  of  the  continuous  spin- 
ning machine  itself. 

Arkwright's  flyer  and  spindle,  after  improve- 
ment by  subsequent  inventors,  coiHd  not  be  re- 
volved at  anything  like  the  speed  of  the  spindle 
of  the  rnule,  and,  in  addition  to  this,  the  yarn 
had  to  be  wound  always  upon  the  bobbin,  very 
much  after  the  style  of  the  bobbin  and  fly  frames 
previously  described. 

Experiments,  however,  were  repeatedly  made 
in  the  direction  of  dispensing  with  the  flyer  alto- 
gether, and  some  thirty  years  ago  these  unique 
spinning  frames  had  attained  very  general  adop- 
tion in  the  United  States  of  America,  where  the 
comparative  dearth  of  skilled  mule  spinners  had 
furnished  an  impetus  to  improvement  of  the  sim- 
ple machine  of  Arkwright. 


COTTON   PLANT.  163 

About  this  time,  the  attention  of  certain  Eng- 
lish makers  being  directed  to  the  success  of  the 
new  spinning  frames  in  America,  led  to  their  in- 
troduction into  England.  But  little  time  elapsed 
before  they  received  a  fair  amount  of  adoption, 
but  for  many  years  they  had  a  restricted  use,  viz., 
for  doubling,  that  is,  the  twisting  of  two  or  more 
spun  threads  together,  to  form  a  stronger  finished 
thread. 

In  this  way,  they  were,  strictly  speaking,  rivals 
of  the  throstle  doubling  frame  more  than  the 
spinning  mule. 

•  By  and  by,  however,  the  time  came  when  the 
new  frames  began  to  be  adopted  as  spinning 
machines,  and  to-day  there  are  many  English 
and  foreign  mills  containing  nothing  else  in 
spinning  machines  on  the  continuous  system  ex- 
cept these.  In  not  a  few  mills  in  different  coun- 
tries, both  types  are  found  running. 

A  careful  glance  at  the  picture  of  this  rival  of 
the  mule,  will  help  in  the  following  description 
of  it:— 

The  flyer  which  is  to  be  seen  on  the  old 
Saxony  wheel,  and  which  was  perpetuated  in  the 
celebrated  machine  of  Arkwright,  is  entirely  dis- 
pensed with,  and  all  its  functions  efficiently  per- 
formed by  apparatus,  simple  in  itself;  it  is  yet 
capable  of  high  speed  and  heavy  production. 

First  of  all,  there  is  a  vastly  improved  and 
cleverly  constructed  form  of  spindle,  by  which, 
in  the  latest  and  best  makes,  any  speed  can  be 
attained  which  is  likely  to  be  required  for  spinning 
purposes. 

Perhaps  the  apparatus  which  plays  the  most 
important  part  in  performing  the  duties  of  the 
displaced  flyer,  is  a  tiny  "  traveller "  revolving 


164  THE   STORY  OF   THE 

round  a  specially  made  steel  ring  about  2  inches 
in  diameter. 

The  use  of  these  two  latter  gives  the  dis- 
tinctive names  of  "  Ring-spinning "  to  the  new 
system  and  "  Ring  Frame  "  to  the  machine  itself. 

In  describing  this  system  of  spinning  the  creel 
of  rovings  to  be  operated  upon,  and  the  drawing 
rollers  being  practically  identical  with  machines 
already  described,  little  here  is  required  to  be 
said  of  them,  but  there  is,  however,  a  modifica- 
tion in  the  arrangement  of  the  rollers  which  is  re- 
ferred to  later  on. 

After  leaving  the  rollers,  a  thread  of  yarn  is 
conducted  downwards  and  passed  through  the 
"travellers,"  which  may  be  seen  in  the  illustra- 
tion, and  then  attached  to  the  bobbin.  The 
"  traveller  "  is  a  tiny  ring  made  of  finely  tempered 
steel.  It  is  sprung  upon  the  edge  of  the  ring 
shown  in  the  frame,  and  which  is  specially  shaped 
to  receive  the  tiny  ring  or  traveller  referred  to. 

The  bobbin  in  this  case  is  practically  fast  to 
the  spindle — unlike  any  other  case  in  cotton- 
spinning  machinery — and  it  is  therefore  carried 
round  by  the  spindle  at  the  same  rate  of  speed. 

As  the  spindle  and  bobbin  revolve,  they  pull 
the  traveller  round  by  the  yarn  which  passes 
through  it,  being  connected  at  one  end  to  the 
bobbin  and  the  rollers  above  forming  another 
point  of  attachment.  If  the  reader  will  look 
carefully  at  the  illustration  he  will  see  how  twist 
is  put  in  the  yarn.  The  joint  action,  then,  of 
bobbin,  traveller  and  fixed  ring,  is  to  put  the 
necessary  twist  in  the  yarn  which  gives  it  its 
proper  degree  of  strength.  If  no  fresh  roving 
from  the  rollers  were  issuing  for  the  moment, 
the  small  portion  of  thread  reaching  from  the 


COTTON   PLANT.  165 

rollers  to  the  bobbins  would  simply  be  twisted 
without  any  u  winding-on  "  taking  place.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  roving  always  is  issuing  from 
the  rollers,  and  "  winding-on  "  of  the  twisted  rov- 
ing is  performed  by  the  traveller  lagging  behind 
the  bobbin  in  speed,  to  a  degree  equal  to 'the  deliv- 
ery of  roving  by  the  rollers.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  in  the  old  flyer-throstle  "  winding-on  "  was 
performed  by  the  bobbin  lagging  behind  the 
spindle,  a  procedure  which  is  impossible  on  the 
ring  frame. 

There  is  also  an  arrangement  of  the  mechan- 
ism for  guiding  and  shaping  the  yarn  upon  the 
bobbins  in  suitable  form,  the  action  being  as 
nearly  as  possible  an  imitation  of  the  mule. 

For  a  number  of  years  after  the  introduction 
of  these  frames,  it  was  found  that  the  threads 
often  broke  down  owing  to  the  twist  not  extend- 
ing through  the  roving  to  the  point  where  it 
issued  from  the  rollers.  This  was  eventually 
remedied  by  placing  the  drawing  rollers  in  a  dif- 
ferent position,  thus  causing  the  thread  running 
from  the  rollers  to  the  traveller  to  approach  more 
to  the  vertical ;  this  constituting  the  modification 
which  has  just  been  referred  to  previously. 

Another  difficulty  was  experienced  in  the  fact 
that  during  spinning  the  threads  would  sometimes 
fly  outwards  to  such  an  extent  that  adjacent 
threads  came  in  contact  with  each  other,  causing 
excessive  breakage.  This  was  technically  termed 
"  ballooning,"  and  has  been  very  satisfactorily 
restricted  by  the  invention  of  special  appara- 
tus. 

At  the  present  time,  therefore,  a  contest  be- 
tween the  two  rival  systems  of  continuous  spin- 
ning which  were  in  bitter  antagonism  over  a  cen- 


l66  THE  STORY  OF  THE 

tury    ago,  is  waging   a   more   fiercely    contested 
fight  than  at  any  previous  time. 

As  the  case  stands  to-day,  the  mule  is  retained 
for  nearly   all   the  best   and   finest  yarns  as   yet 
found;  the  most  suitable  for  them,  just  as  it  was  i 
when  Crompton  got  255.  per  pound  for   spinning] 
fine  muslin  yarns  on  his  first  mule. 

In  many  cases,  also,  yarn  is  specially  required 
to  be  spun  upon  the  bare  spindle  as  on  a  mule,  as 
for  instance  when  used  as  weft  and  put  into  the 
shuttle  of  a  loom.  It  is  probably  the  very  great- 
est defect  of  the  ring  frame  that  it  can  only,  with 
great  difficulty,  be  made  to  form  a  good  cop  of 
yarn  on  the  bare  spindle,  although  thousands  of 
pounds  have  been  spent  on  experimenting  in  that 
direction.  How  soon  it  may  be  accomplished 
with  commercial  success  cannot  be  known,  as  a 
great  number  of  individuals  are  constantly  work- 
ing in  that  direction.  If  it  does  come  about, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  ring  frame  will 
receive  a  still  further  impetus. 

Even  now,  for  medium  counts  of  yarn  it  is 
much  more  productive  than  the  mule,  owing  to 
its  being  a  continuous  spinner.  Another  vast 
advantage  that  it  possesses  is  the  extreme  sim- 
plicity of  its  parts  and  work  as  compared  with 
the  mule.  Because  of  this,  women  and  girls  are 
invariably  employed  on  the  ring  frames,  whereas 
it  requires  skilled  and  well-paid  workmen  for  the 
mules. 

The  Combing   Machine.  —  As   compared  with 
the  Scutcher,  the  Carding  Engine  and    Mule,  the 
Comber  is  a  much  more  modern  machine.     Comb-    ; 
ing  may  be  defined  as  being  the  most  highly  per- 
fected application  of  the  carding  principle. 


COTTON   PLANT.  167 

The  chief  objects  aimed  at  by  the  comber 
are  : — To  extract  all  fibres  below  a  certain  length  ; 
to  make  the  fibres  parallel ;  and  to  extract  any 
fine  impurities  that  may  have  escaped  the  scutch- 
ing and  carding  processes. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  although  nearly  all 
the  great  inventions  relating  to  cotton-spinning 
have  been  brought  out  by  Englishmen,  the  comb- 
ing machine  is  a  notable  exception.  It  was  in- 
vented a  few  years  prior  to  1851  by  Joshua  Heil- 
man,  who  was  born  at  Mulhouse,  the  principal 
seat  of  the  Alsace  cotton  manufacture,  in  1796. 

Like  Samuel  Crompton — the  inventor  of  the 
mule — Joshua  Heilman  appears  to  have  possessed 
the  inventive  faculty  in  a  high  degree,  and  he 
received  an  excellent  training  in  mathematics, 
mechanical  drawing,  practical  mechanics,  and 
other  subjects  calculated  to  assist  him  in  his 
career  as  an  inventor. 

Heilman  was  the  inventor  of  several  useful 
improvements  in  connection  with  spinning  and 
weaving  machinery,  but  the  invention  of  the 
comber  was  undoubtedly  his  greatest  achieve- 
ment. 

He  was  brought  up  in  comparatively  easy  cir- 
cumstances, and  married  a  wife  possessing  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  money ;  but  all  that  both  of 
them  possessed  was  swallowed  up  by  Heilman's 
expenses  in  connection  with  his  inventions,  and 
he  himself  was  only  raised  from  poverty  again  by 
the  success  of  the  comber  shortly  before  his 
death,  his  wife  having  died  in  the  midst  of  their 
poverty  many  years  previously. 

After  Heilman  became  possessed  of  the  idea 
of  inventing  a  combing  machine,  he  laboured 
incessantly  at  the  project  for  several  years,  first 


1 68  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

in  his  native  country  and  subsequently  in  Eng- 
land. The  firm  of  Sharpe  &  Roberts,  formerly  so 
famous  in  connection  with  the  self-actor  mule, 
made  him  a  model,  which,  however,  did  not  per- 
form what  Heilman  required. 

Afterwards  he  returned  again  to  his  native 
Alsace  still  possessed  with  the  idea,  and  finally  it 
is  said  that  the  successful  inspiration  came  to  him 
whilst  watching  his  daughters  comb  out  their  long 
hair.  The  ultimate  result  was  that  he  invented  a 
machine  which  was  shown  at  the  great  exhibition 
of  London  in  1851  and  immediately  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  textile  manufacturers  of  Lanca- 
shire and  Yorkshire. 

Large  sums  of  money  were  paid  him  by  certain 
of  the  Lancashire  cotton  spinners  for  its  exclu- 
sive use  in  the  cotton  trade.  Certain  of  the 
woollen  masters  of  Yorkshire  did  the  same,  for 
its  exclusive  application  to  their  trade,  and  it  was 
also  adopted  for  other  textiles,  although  Heilman 
himself  only  lived  a  short  time  after  his  great 
success. 

It  must  be  understood  that  the  comber  is  only 
used  by  a  comparatively  small  proportion  of  the 
cotton  spinners  of  the  world.  For  all  ordinary 
purposes  a  sufficiently  good  quality  of  yarn  can 
be  made  without  the  comber,  and  no  other  ma- 
chine in  cotton  spinning  adds  half  as  much  as 
the  comber  to  the  expense  of  producing  cotton 
yarn  from  the  raw  material. 

To  show  this  point  with  greater  force,  it  may 
be  mentioned  that  the  comber  may  make  about 
17  per  cent,  of  waste,  which  is  approximately  as 
much  as  all  the  other  machines  in  the  mill  put  to- 
gether would  make. 

Its  use,  however,  is  indispensable  in  the  pro- 


COTTON    PLANT.  169 

duction  of  the  finest  yarns,  since  no  other  machine 
can  extract  short  fibre  like  the  comber.  It  is  sel- 
dom used  for  counts  of  yarn  below  6o's  and  often 
as  fine  yarns  as  loo's  or  more  are  made  without 
the  comber.  In  England  its  use  is  chiefly  cen- 
tred in  the  localities  of  Bolton,  Manchester,  and 
Bollington,  although  there  is  a  little  combing  in 
Preston,  Ashton  under  Lyne,  and  other  places. 

Perhaps  its  greatest  value  consists  in  the  fact 
that  its  use  enables  fine  yarns  to  be  made  out  of 
cotton  otherwise  much  too  poor  in  quality  for  the 
work  ;  this  being  rendered  possible  chiefly  by  the 
special  virtue  possessed  by  the  comber  of  extract- 
ing all  fibres  of  cotton  below  a  certain  length. 
This  of  course  has  led  to  the  increased  production 
and  consequently  reduced  price  of  the  better  qual- 
ities of  yarn. 

Reverting  now  to  the  Heilman  Comber  as  it 
stands  to-day,  an  excellent  idea  of  the  machine  as 
a  whole  will  be  gathered  from  the  photograph  in 

Fig.  31- 

There  are  usually  six  small  laps  being  operated 
upon  simultaneously  in  one  comber.  Each  small 
lap  being  from  y-J-  inches  to  10^  inches  wide,  be- 
ing placed  on  fluted  wooden  rollers  behind  the 
machine,  is  slowly  unwound  by  frictional  contact 
therewith,  and  the  sheet  of  cotton  thus  unwound 
is  passed  down  a  highly  polished  convex  guide- 
plate  to  a  pair  of  small  fluted  steel  rollers. 

Both  the  wooden  and  the  steel  rollers  have  an 
intermittent  motion,  as  indeed  have  also  all  the 
chief  parts  of  the  machine  concerned  in  the  actual 
combing  of  the  cotton.  The  rollers,  during  each 
intermittent  movement,  may  project  forward  about 
f  of  an  inch  length  of  thin  cotton  lap. 

By  this  forward  movement  the  cotton  fibres  are 


THE  STORY  OF   THE 


COTTON   PLANT.  171 

passed  between  a  pair  of  nippers  which  has  been 
for  the  instant  opened  on  purpose  to  allow  of  this 
aution.  Immediately  the  cotton  has  passed  be- 
tween the  nippers,  the  feed  rollers  stop  for  an  in- 
stant and  the  jaws  of  the  nippers  shut  and  hold 
the  longer  of  the  cotton  fibres  in  a  very  firm 
manner. 

The  shorter  fibres,  however,  are  not  held  so 
firmly,  and  are  now  combed  away  from  the  main 
body  of  the  fibres  by  fine  needles  being  passed 
through  them.  The  needles  are  fixed  in  a  revolv- 
ing cylinder  and  are  graduated  in  fineness  and  in 
closeness  of  setting,  so  that  while  the  first  rows  of 
needles  may  be  about  20  to  the  inch,  the  last  rows 
may  contain  as  many  as  80  to  the  inch,  there  be- 
ing from  15  to  17  rows  of  needles  in  an  ordinary 
comber. 

The  short  fibres  being  combed  out  by  the 
needles  are  stripped  therefrom,  and  passed  by 
suitable  mechanism  to  the  back  of  the  machi-ne 
to  be  afterwards  used  in  the  production  of  lower 
counts  of  yarn. 

The  needles  of  the  revolving  cylinder  having 
passed  through  the  fibres,  the  nippers  open  again 
and  at  the  same  time  another  row  of  comb  teeth 
or  needles,  termed  the  top  comb,  descends  into 
the  fibres.  The  fibres  now  being  liberated,  cer- 
tain detaching  and  attaching  mechanism,  as  it  is 
termed,  is  brought  into  action,  and  the  long  fibres 
are  taken  forward,  being  pulled  through  the  top 
comb  during  this  operation.  Thus  the  front  ends 
of  the  fibres  are  first  combed  and  immediately 
afterwards  the  back  ends  of  the  same  fibres  are 
combed.  During  the  actual  operation  of  combing 
each  small  portion  of  cotton,  the  latter  is  quite 
separated  from  the  portion  previously  combed, 


172  THE  STORY  OF  THE 

and  it  is  part  of  the  work  of  the  detaching  and 
attaching  mechanism  to  lay  the  newly  combed 
portion  upon  that  previously  combed.  From  a 
mechanical  point  of  view,  the  detaching  and  at- 
taching mechanism  is  more  difficult  to  understand 
than  any  other  portion  of  the  comber,  and  it  is 
no  part  of  the  purpose  of  this  u  story  of  the  Cot- 
ton plant  "  to  enter  into  a  description  of  this  in- 
tricate mechanism. 

Sufficient  be  it  to  say  that  the  combed  cotton 
leaves  the  detaching  rollers  in  a  thin  silky-looking 
fleece  which  is  at  once  gathered  up  into  a  round 
sliver  or  strand  and  conducted  down  a  long  guide- 
plate  towards  the  end  of  the  machine.  This  guide- 
plate  is  clearly  shown  in  the  photograph  of  the 
comber,  where  also  it  will  be  seen  that  the  slivers 
from  the  six  laps  which  have  been  operated  upon 
simultaneously  are  now  laid  side  by  side. 

In  this  form  the  cotton  passes  through  the 
"  draw-box  "  at  the  end  of  the  comber,  and  being 
here  reduced  practically  to  the  dimensions  of  one 
sliver  it  passes  through  a  narrow  funnel  and  is 
placed  in  a  can  in  convenient  form  for  the  next 
process. 

When  the  combing  is  adopted,  it  precedes  the 
drawing  frame,  which  has  previously  been  de- 
scribed, and  the  cans  of  sliver  from  the  comber 
are  taken  directly  to  the  draw-frame. 

For  intricacy  and  multiplicity  of  parts  of 
mechanism,  the  comber  is  second  only  in  cotton- 
spinning  machinery  to  the  self-acting  mule,  and 
is  probably  less  understood,  since  its  use  is  con- 
fined to  a  section  of  the  trade.  The  latest  devel- 
opment is  the  duplex  comber,  which  makes  the 
extraordinarily  large  number  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  nips  per  minute,  as  compared  with  about 


COTTON   PLANT. 


173 


eighty-five  nips  per  minute  for  the  modern  single 
nip  comber.  All  this  is  the  result  of  improvement 
in  detail,  as  the  principle  of  Heilman's  Comber 
remains  the  same  as  he  left  it.  It  ought  to  be 
added  that  other  types  of  comber  have  been  adopt- 
ed on  the  continent  with  some  show  of  success. 

Sliver  Lap  Machine. — Combing  succeeds  card- 
ing and  is  practically  a  continuation  of  the  card- 


FIG.  32. —Sliver  lap  machine. 


ing  principle  to  a  much  finer  degree  than  is  pos- 
sible on  the  card.  The  Carding  Engine,  however, 
makes  slivers  or  strands  of  cotton,  while  the 
comber  requires  the  cotton  to  be  presented  to  it 
in  the  form  of  thin  sheets.  It  therefore  becomes 


174  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

requisite  to  employ  apparatus  for  converting  a 
number  of  the  card  slivers  into  a  narrow  lap  for 
the  comber. 

The  machine  universally  employed  is  termed 
"The  Sliver  Lap  Machine,"  or,  in  some  cases, 
"The  Derby  Doubler,"  and  a  modern  machine  is 
shown  in  the  photograph  forming  Fig.  32. 

In  this  case,  eighteen  cans  are  placed  behind 
the  machines,  and  the  sliver  from  each  can  is  con- 
ducted through  an  aperture  in  the  back  guide- 
plate  designed  to  prevent  entanglements  of  sliver 
from  passing  forward.  Next  each  sliver  passes 
over  a  spoon  lever  forming  part  of  a  motion  for 
automatically  stopping  the  machine  when  an  end 
breaks.  The  eighteen  slivers  now  pass  side  by 
side  through  three  pairs  of  drawing  rollers  with 
a  slight  draft,  and  between  calender  rollers  to  a 
wooden  "core"  or  roller.  Upon  this  roller  the 
slivers  are  wound  in  the  form  of  a  lap,  being  as- 
similated to  one  another  by  the  action  of  the 
drawing  and  calender  rollers. 

Special  Drawing  Frame. — In  order  to  have  the 
fibres  of  cotton  in  the  best  possible  condition  for 
obtaining  the  maximum  efficiency  out  of  the  comb- 
ing action,  it  is  the  common  practice  to  employ  a 
special  drawing  frame  between  the  card  and  the 
sliver  lap  machine. 

As  described  elsewhere  in  this  little  story,  the 
use  of  the  drawing  frame  is  to  make  the  fibres 
of  cotton  more  parallel  to  each  other  by  the 
drawing  action  of  the  rollers,  and  to  produce 
uniformity  in  the  slivers  of  cotton  by  doubling 
about  six  of  them  together  and  reducing  the  six 
down  to  the  dimensions  of  one.  In  the  case 
under  discussion  the  slivers  from  the  card  are 


COTTON   PLANT. 


175 


taken  to  the  specfal  drawing  frame  and  treated 
by  it,  and  then  passed  along  to  the  sliver  lap 
machine  as  just  described. 

Ribbon  Machine. — Quite  recently  a  machine 
has  come  slightly  into  use  designed  to  supersede 
this  special  drawing  frame.  This  new  machine 
is  termed  the  "  Ribbon  Lap  Machine,"  and  it  may 


FIG.  33. — Ribbon  lap  machine. 


be  described  as  a  variation  of  the  principle  of  the 
machine  it  is  designed  to  supersede.  The  differ- 
ence is  this,  that,  whereas  the  drawing  frame 
doubles  and  attenuates  slivers  of  cotton,  the  Rib- 
bon Machine  operates  upon  small  laps  formed  of 


176  THE   STORY  OF  THE 

ribbons  or  narrow  sheets  of  cotton.  By  this  treat- 
ment, the  evening  and  parallelising  benefits  of 
the  drawing  frame  are  secured,  with  the  addition 
of  a  third  advantage,  which  may  be  briefly  ex- 
plained. The  slivers,  which  in  the  sliver  lap 
machine  are  laid  side  by  side  so  as  to  form  a  lap, 
have  a  tendency  to  show  an  individuality  so  as  to 
present  a  more  or  less  thick  and  thin  sheet  to  the 
action  of  the  nippers  of  the  comber.  The  latter, 
therefore,  hold  the  cotton  somewhat  feebly  at  the 
thin  places,  thus  allowing  the  needles  of  the  re- 
volving cylinder  to  comb  out  a  portion  of  good 
cotton.  When  the  Ribbon  Lap  Machine  is  em- 
ployed, the  slivers  from  the  card  are  taken  directly 
to  the  Sliver  Lap  Machine  and  the  laps  made 
by  this  machine  are  passed  through  the  Ribbon 
Machine.  Six  laps  being  operated  upon  simul- 
taneously by  the  rollers,  are  laid  one  upon  another 
at  the  front  so  that  thick  and  thin  places  amal- 
gamate to  produce  a  sheet  of  uniform  thickness. 
The  use  of  the  Ribbon  Machine  is  limited  at  pres- 
ent owing  to  its  possessing  certain  disadvantages. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

DESTINATION    OF    THE    SPUN    YARN. 

HAVING  initiated  our  readers  into  all  the  pro- 
cesses incidental  to  the  production  of  the  long 
fine  threads  of  yarn  from  the  ponderous  and 
weighty  bales  of  cotton  as  received  at  the  mill, 
it  remains  for  us  to  briefly  indicate  the  more  com- 
mon uses  to  which  the  spun  yarn  is  applied. 

A  very  large  quantity  of  yarn  is  consumed  in 


COTTON    PLANT.  177 

the  weaving  mills  for  the  production  of  grey 
cloth  without  further  treatment  in  the  spinning 
mill,  except  that  the  cops  of  yarn  are  packed  in 
ships,  boxes,  or  casks,  in  convenient  form  for 
transit  purposes. 

If  for  weft,  the  cops  are  forthwith  taken  to 
the  loom,  ready  for  the  shuttle. 

If  for  warp,  then  the  yarn  passes  through  a 
number  of  processes  necessary  for  its  conversion, 
from  the  mule  cop  or  ring  bobbin  form,  into  the 
sheet  form,  consisting  of  many  hundreds  of 
threads,  which  are  then  wound  on  a  beam. 

Briefly  enumerated,  these  processes  are  as  fol- 
lows : — 

(a)  The  winding  frame,  in  which  the  threads 
from  the  cops  or  spools  are  wound  upon  flanged 
wooden  borJbms,  suitable  for  the  creel  of  the  next 
machine. 

($)  The  beam  warping  frame,  in  which  perhaps 
400  threads  are  pulled  from  the  bobbins  made  at 
the  winding  frame,  and  'wound  side  by  side  upon 
a  large  wooden  beam. 

(<:)  The  "  slasher  sizing  frame,"  in  which  the 
threads  from  perhaps  five  of  the  beams  made  at 
the  warping  machine  are  unwound  and  laid  upon 
one  another,  so  as  to  form  a  much  denser  warp  of 
perhaps  2000  threads,  and  wrapped  on  a  beam  in 
a  suitable  form  for  fitting  in  the  loom  as  the  warp 
or  "  woof  "  of  the  woven  fabric.  In  addition  to 
this,  the  sizing  machine  contains  mechanism  by 
which  the  threads  are  made  to  pass  through  a 
mixing  of  "size"  or  paste,  which  strengthens  the 
threads. 

In  some  cases  this  "  size  "  is  laid  on  the  yarn 
very  thickly,  in  order  to  make  the  cloth  weigh 
heavier. 

12 


1 78  THE   STORY   OF   THE 

(d)  After  sizing  comes  the  subsidiary  process 
of  "drawing  in  "  or  "twisting  in,"  by  which  all 
the  threads  are  passed  in  a  suitable  manner 
through  "  healds  "  and  "  reeds,"  so  as  to  allow  of 
their  proper  manipulation  by  the  mechanism  of 
the  loom,  to  which  they  are  immediately  afterwards 
transferred. 

In  the  production  of  cloths  of  a  more  or  less 
"  fancy  "  description,  it  is  often  required  that  the 
spun  yarns  shall  be  bleached  and  dyed  before 
using,  and  to  perform  one  or  both  of  these  opera- 
tions efficiently,  it  is  usual  to  reduce  the  yarn  into 
proper  condition  by  the  processes  of  "  reeling  " 
and  "  bundling,"  although  in  comparatively  few 
instances  yarn  is  dyed  in  the  cop  form,  while  in 
a  few  other  cases  the  raw  cotton  is  dyed  before 
being  subjected  to  the  processes  of  cotton  spin- 
ning. 

"  Reeling  "  and  "  Bundling  "  are  operations 
which  are  frequently  necessary  for  other  purposes 
besides  those  above  allirded  to,  and  may  there- 
fore be  more  fully  described,  as  they  often  form 
part  of  the  equipment  of  a  spinning  mill,  and 
yarn  is  frequently  sent  away  from  the  spinning 
mill  in  bundle  form. 

Reeling. — This  is  a  simple  but  very  extensive- 
ly adopted  process,  in  which  yarn  is  wound  from 
cops,  bobbins  or  spools  into  hanks.  It  may  be 
explained  here  that  a  cotton  hank  consists  of 
840  yards,  and  is  made  up  of  7  leas  of  120  yards 
each,  while  on  a  reel  each  lea  is  made  up  of  80 
threads,  a  thread  being  54  inches  and  equalling 
the  circumference  of  the  reel.  Perhaps  the  most 
common  size  of  reel  contains  at  one  time  40 
spindles,  and  is  capable  therefore  of  winding  40 


COTTON    PLANT. 


179 


hanks  of  yarn  simultaneously.  The  photograph 
in  Fig.  34  shows  a  number  of  reels  fitted  for 
winding  hanks  from  cops  formed  upon  the  mule. 
The  cops  being  put  on  the  skewers,  the  end  of 
yarn  from  each  is  attached  to  the  reel  or  "  swift " 
ready  for  starting.  These  reels  may  be  arranged 


FIG.  34, — Reeling  machine. 


so  as  to  be  operated  from  shafting  by  mechanical 
power,  or  by  the  hand  of  the  attendants. 

Reeling  is  performed  by  women,  and  in  our 
photo  the  attendant  is  seen  in  the  actual  opera- 
tion of  reeling. 

A  hank  of  yarn  having  been  taken  from  each 
cop,  the  reel  is  stopped  and  closed  up  so  as  to 
allow  of  the  ready  withdrawal  of  the  hanks. 

Bundling  Machine. — The  Bundling  press  is 
solely  intended  to  assist  in  the  making  up  of  the 


i8o 


THE  STORY  OF  THE 


hanks  of  yarn  into  a  form  suitable  for  ready  and 
convenient  transit.  In  order  to  exercise  a  suffi- 
cient pressure  upon  the  yarn  to  make  a  compact 
bundle,  it  is  necessary  for  the  framing  to  be  of 
a  very  strong  character,  as  will  be  especially 
noticed  in  Fig.  35. 

The  bundles  of  yarn  made  up  on  the  bundling 
machine  are  usually  5   to  10  pounds  weight,  the 


FIG.  35. — Bundling  machine. 

latter  being  by  far  the  more  common  size.  The 
bundle  shown  in  the  yarn-box  of  our  illustration 
is  10  pounds  in  weight  and  is  practically  ready 
for  removal. 

Before  placing  the  yarn  in  the  machine,  several 
hanks  are  twisted  together  to  form  a  knot,  and 
these  "  knots  "  comprise  the  individual  members 
of  the  bundle  shown  in  the  illustration. 

In  the  sides  of  the  yarn-box  there  are  four 


COTTON   PLANT.  181 

divisions,  through  which  are  threaded  as  many 
strings,  upon  whicr^  may  be  placed  cardboard 
backs.  Then  the  knots  of  yarn  are  neatly 
placed  upon  the  strings,  and  the  cardboard  and 
the  strong  top  bars  of  the  press  securely  fastened 
down.  Certain  cams  and  levers  are  then  set  in 
motion,  by  which  the  yarn  table  is  slowly  and 
powerfully  raised  so  as  to  press  the  yarn  with 
great  force  against  the  top  bars.  A  sufficient 
pressure  having  been  exerted,  the  bundle  is  tied 
up  and  withdrawn  from  the  press,  only  requiring 
to  be  neatly  wrapped  in  stout  paper  to  be  quite 
ready  for  transit  purposes. 

Sewing  Thread. — A  very  large  quantity  of  spun 
yarn  is  subsequently  made  into  sewing  thread. 
It  is  a  fact  well  known  to  practical  men  that  we 
have  no  means  in  cotton  spinning  by  which  a 
thread  can  be  spun  directly  of  sufficient  strength 
to  be  used  as  sewing  thread.  For  instance,  sup- 
pose we  wanted  a  i2's  sewing  thread,  i.e.,  a  thread 
containing  12  hanks  in  one  pound  of  yarn;  it 
would  be  practically  impossible  to  spin  a  thread 
sufficiently  good  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the 
case.  The  method  generally  adopted  is  to  spin  a 
much  finer  yarn  and  to  make  the  finished  thread 
by  doubling  several  of  the  fine  spun  yarns  to- 
gether in  order  to  form  the  thicker  final  thread. 
For  instance,  to  produce  a  i2's  thread  it  is  prob- 
able that  4  threads  of  single  48*5  would  be  doubled 
together,  or  say  4  threads  of  50*5,  to  allow  for  the 
slight  contraction  of  the  yarn  brought  about  by 
twisting  the  single  threads  round  one  another. 

In  order  to  perform  this  doubling  operation  in 
an  efficient  manner  for  the  production  of  thread, 
it  is  usual  to  employ  two  machines. 


182 


THE   STORY  OF   THE 


The  first  of  these  is  shown  in  the  illustration, 
and  is  termed  the  quick  traverse  winding  ma- 
chine. Here  the  cops  from  the  mule,  or  the  bob- 
bins from  the  ring  frame,  are  fitted  in  a  suitable 
creel,  as  shown  clearly  at  the  front  and  lower  part 


FIG.  36. — Quick  traverse  winding  frame. 

of  our  illustration.  Each  thread  of  yarn  is  con- 
ducted over  a  flannel-covered  board  which  cleans 
the  yarn  and  keeps  it  tight.  Then  each  thread 
passes  through  the  eye  of  a  small  detector  wire 
which  is  held  up  by  the  thread  and  forms  part  of 
an  automatic  stop  motion  which  stops  the  rotation 
of  any  particular  bobbin  or  "  cheese  "  when  an 
end  or  thread  belonging  to  that  "cheese"  fails  or 
breaks,  leaving  the  needles  or  detector  wires. 
All  the  threads — from  two  to  six  in  number — 
belonging  to  one  "  cheese  "  are  combined  to  form 
one  loose  rope  or  thicker  thread. 

It  ought  to  be  explained  that  the  term  cheese 


COTTON   PLANT.  '  183 

is  applied  to  the  kind  of  bobbin  of  yarn  which  is 
formed  upon  this  particular  machine,  one  or  two 
being  placed  as  shown  on  the  frame  work. 

Doubling  Machine. — The  machine  just  de- 
scribed does  not  put  any  twist  into  the  thread, 
although  twisting  is  a  process  which  is  absolutely 
indispensable  for  the  proper  combination  of  the 
several  single  threads  so  as  to  produce  a  strong 
doubled  thread. 

The  twisting  operation  is  therefore  performed 
on  the  machine  illustrated  in  Fig.  37,  and  termed 
the  "Ring  doubling  machine." 

In  the  creel  of  this  machine  are  placed  the 
cheeses  formed  on  the  winding  machine,  and  the 
threads  are  conducted  downward  and  usually 
under  a  glass  rod  in  trough  containing  water,  as 
the  addition  of  water  helps  to  solidify  the  single 
threads  better  into  one  doubled  thread.  From 
the  water  trough  the  threads  are  conducted  be- 
tween a  pair  of  revolving  brass  rollers  which  draw 
the  threads  from  the  cheeses  and  pass  them  for- 
ward to  the  front  of  the  machine.  Here  each 
doubled  thread  extends  downwards  and  passes 
through  a  "  traveller  "  upon  the  bobbin. 

This  machine  is  a  modification  of  the  ring 
spinning  frame  previously  described  and  there- 
fore does  not  call  for  detailed  treatment  at  our 
hands. 

The  two  machines  are  practically  identical  in 
principle,  the  chief  difference  being  that  in  the 
doubler  there  are  no  drawing  rollers,  as  the  cot- 
ton is  not  attenuated  in  any  degree  at  this  stage. 

Other  differences  consist  in  having  larger 
"  travellers  "  and  "  rings  "  and  "  spindles,"  and  in 
a  different  kind  of  bobbin  being  formed. 


184 


THE  STORY  OF  THE 


COTTON   PLANT.  185 

At  the  doubling  mill  these  threads  are  sub- 
mitted to  finishing  processes,  by  which  they  may 
be  polished  and  cleared  and  finally  wound  upon 
small  bobbins  or  spools  ready  for  the  market,  as 
seen  in  Fig.  2. 

A  fair  proportion  of  the  very  best  yarns  are 
utilised  in  the  manufacture  of  lace  and  to  imitate 
silk.  Such  yarns  are  usually  passed  through 
what  is  termed  a  "  gassing "  machine.  In  this 
process  each  thread  is  passed  rapidly  several 
times  through  a  gas  flame  usually  emanating  from 
a  burner  of  the  Bunsen  type.  The  passage  of 
the  thread  through  the  flame  is  too  rapid  to  allow 
of  the  burning  down  of  the  threads,  but  is  not  too 
quickly  to  prevent  the  loose  oozy  fibres,  present 
more  or  less  on  the  surface  of  all  cotton  yarns,  to 
be  burned  away.  This  process  is  somewhat  ex- 
pensive, as  it  burns  away  perhaps  6  pounds  weight 
of  yarn  in  every  100  pounds.  This,  however,  is 
obtained  back  again  by  the  increased  price  of  the 
yarn.  It  is  a  property  of  the  cotton  fibre  that  it 
can  be  made  to  imitate  more  or  less  either  woollen, 
linen  or  silk  goods,  and  since  cotton  is  the  cheap- 
est fibre  of  the  lot  it  follows  that  a  considerable 
amount  of  cotton  yarn  is  used  in  combination 
with  these  other  fibres,  in  order  to  produce 
cheaper  fabrics.  Embroidery,  crocheting  and 
knitting  cottons,  and  the  hosiery  trade  absorb  a 
large  amount  of  the  spun  cotton  yarn  ;  the  latter 
being  doubled  in  most  cases  in  order  to  fit  it  for 
the  special  work  it  is  designed  to  do. 

In  a  modern  spinning  mill  the  ground  floor 
usually  contains  the  openers,  scutchers,  drawing 
frames,  carding  engines  and  bobbin  and  fly- 
frames.  The  upper  floors  are  usually  covered  by 
mules  and  other  spinning  frames. 


1 86 


THE    STORY   OF   THE 


COTTON   PLANT.  187 

In  the  last  illustration  (Fig.  38)  is  shown  one 
of  the  latest  engines  built  for  special  work  such 
as  is  required  in  a  cotton  mill.  The  huge  drum, 
on  which  rest  the  ropes  and  which  can  be  clearly 
seen  in  the  picture,  is  divided  into  grooves.  A 
certain  number  of  these  is  set  apart  for  the  special 
rooms.  The  strength  of  the  rope  is  known  and 
its  transmitting  power  is  also  known.  When  the 
power  required  to  drive  say  the  first  storey  or 
second  storey  is  calculated,  it  becomes  an  easy 
matter  to  distribute  the  ropes  on  the  drum  as 
required.  This  engine  is  now  at  work  in  the  Bee- 
Hive  Spinning  Mill,  Bolton. 


INDEX. 


A. 

Acreage  devoted  to  cotton  in  Amer- 
ica, 41. 

Ancient  Egyptians,  19. 
American  cultivation,  40. 
Arkwright,  126. 

B. 

Backing  off,  155. 
Bale  breaker,  86. 
Ballooning,  165. 
Bobbin  and  fly  frames,  105. 
Boll-caterpillar,  37. 
Botany  of  cotton,  19. 
Brazil  cotton,  29. 
Bundling,  179. 

C. 

Carding  of  cotton,  93. 
Change  of  methods,  43. 
Chemistry  of  cotton  fibre,  31. 
Chemical  analysis  of  the  plant.  32. 
Christopher  Columbus,  17. 
Coiler,  100. 

Combing  machine,  166. 
Commercial     products     of     cotton 

plant,  33. 
Compressors,  79. 
Cone  drums,  112. 
Cop,  151. 

Copping  motion,  157. 
Cotton-boll  weevil,  38. 
Cotton  caterpillar  and  remedies,  36. 
Cotton  lint,  25. 
Cotton  plant  described,  20. 
Crioulo  cotton,  29. 
Creels,  149. 
Crompton,  134. 


Cultivation  of  cotton  in  the  United 
States  of  America,  39 

in  Brazil,  47. 

in  China,  60. 

— ' —  in  Corea,  59. 

in  Egypt,  61. 

in  India,  50. 

in  Mexico,  48. 

in  Peru,  49. 

in  Russian  Asia,  57. 

D. 

Dacca  cotton,  28. 

Deo  cotton,  28. 

Derby  doubler,  174. 

Destination  of  the  yarn,  176. 

Differential  motion,  156. 

Diseases  of  the  cotton  plant,  34. 

Distaff,  115. 

Doffer  and  comb,  99. 

Doubling  machine,  183. 

Draft,  102. 

Draw  box  of  comber,  172. 

Drawing  frame.  100. 

Drawing  of  a  fibre,  71. 

E. 

Early  inventors,  112. 
Effect  of  soil  differences,  21. 
Egyptian  varieties,  62. 
Emperor  Alexander's  voyages,  16. 

F. 

Faller  wires,  153. 

Flats,  98. 

Flower  of  plant  described,  21. 

Flying  shuttle,  120. 

Forms  of  bales,  79. 

189 


190 


INDEX. 


Friction  clutch,  153. 

Fruit  of  plant  described,  21. 

Fungi  of  cotton,  39. 

G. 

Gassing  of  yarn,  185. 
Gain  in  mule,  152 
Georgian  uplands  cotton,  27. 
Ginning  of  cotton,  74. 
Gossypium  acuminatum,  29. 

arboreum,  27. 

barbadense,  23. 

herbaceum,  25. 

hirsutum,  27. 

neglectum,  28. 

Peruvianum,  29. 

— —  religiosum,  27. 

Green-seeded  cotton,  27. 

Greek  and  Roman  use  of  cotton,  17. 

H. 

Half-ripe  cotton,  68. 

Hall  ith  Wood,  136. 

Hauling,  45. 

Hargreaves'  spinning  jenny,  122. 

Head  stock  of  mule,  158. 

Heilmans'  machine,  167. 

Herodotus'    description    of    cotton 

plant,  15. 
Highs,  127. 

Hingunghat  cotton,  52. 
Hopper  feed  to  opener,  89. 

I. 

Indian  cotton  areas,  51. 

Insect  pests,  35. 

Introduction  of  cotton  goods,  118. 


Jersey  wheel,  116. 

K. 
Kidney  cotton,  29. 

L. 

Lap,  96. 
Leaf  of  cotton  plant  described,  21. 

M. 

Macarthy  gin,  77. 
Mandeville\  cotton  plant,  13. 


Maranhao  cotton,  29. 
Measurement  of  fibres,  68. 
Medicinal  uses  of  plant  root,  32. 
Mexico  conquered  by  Cortez,  18. 
Microscope  and  cotton,  64. 
Mixing  of  cotton,  85. 
Modern  engine  house,  ic 
Mule,  141. 
Myths  about  cotton  plant,  n. 

N. 
JNankeen  cotton,  26. 

O. 

Oomras  cotton,  52. 
Opening  of  cotton,  88. 
Origin  of  spinning,  113. 
Other  injurious  insects,  38. 
Other  cotton  countries,  63. 

P. 

Paul's  spinning  machine,  121. 

Percentage  of  water  in  cotton,  33. 

Peru  subjugated,  18. 

Picking  of  cotton,  73. 

Plantation  life,  72. 

Prices  of  yarns  contrasted,  140. 

Q. 

auadrant  on  the  mule,  148. 
uick  traverse  winding  frame,  182. 

R. 

Red  Peruvian  cotton,  30. 

Reeling,  178. 

Ribbon  machine,  175. 

Rim  band,  155. 

Ring  spinning,  160. 

Roberts,  147. 

Rock  Day,  116. 

Roller  spinning,  127. 

Rope  driving,  187. 

Roving,  105. 

Royle  on  antiquity  of  cotton,  16. 

S. 

Santos  cotton,  30. 

Saw  gins,  78. 

Scroll  bands.  155. 

Scutching  of  cotton,  92. 

Seed  of  cotton  plant  described,  22. 

Set  of  cops,  158. 


INDEX. 


Set  of  frames,  106. 
Self-actor  mule,  146. 
Sewing  thread,  181. 
Shaper  on  mule,  157. 
Sliver  lap  machine,  173. 
Slivers    1:04. 
Soils,  ST. 

Special  drawing  frame,  174. 
Species  of  cotton  plants,  23. 
Spindle  and  flyer,  no. 
St.  Distaff's  Day,  116. 
Strength  of  cotton  fibres,  30. 
Stretch  in  the  mule,  149. 
Surat  cotton,  26. 


V. 

Vasco  da  Gama,  18. 
Vegetable  lamb  of  Tartary,  12. 
Vine  cotton,  26. 

W. 

Water  frame,  129. 

Weight  of  seed  on  the  plant,  31. 

Winding  chain  on  the  mule,  1560 

Z. 

Zahn's  barometz,  13. 


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